Now I've been here a while, I've made friends, am getting to know the place, and feel more and more I have a stake in what happens in the San Juans. That's what drew me to the grange on Saturday for an all day workshop called Rehab Green - Historic Preservation, Weatherization, and Sustainable Rehabilitation.
"Rehab Green" was presented by The Town of Friday Harbor and The Town of Friday Harbor Historic Preservation Review Board. Additional financial support for the workshop came from the National Trust For Historic Preservation.
Participants were local experts in the fields of ecology and green building practices, experts on code issues, a representative from OPALCO, commercial building developers, homeowners, design professionals, and contractors. Sandy Strehlou, Friday Harbor's Historic Preservation Program Coordinator facilitated the workshop. The main speaker was Alistair Jackson from O'Brien and Company in Seattle, a nationally recognized leader in sustainability and green building consulting.
Alistair Jackson's presentation in the morning was educational for everyone and just technical enough to suit the geeks, including me, given the right setting I'm part geek. When you take into account who attended, you can see this was a presentation and discussion of some depth. I continue to be impressed with the number of intelligent, interested, involved individuals who live and work in the islands. Attending the workshop showed me once again what a rich and vibrant place this is.
As an architect, I was most interested in the data pertaining to the performance of buildings both old and new when it comes to energy consumption and indoor air quality. "Old Is The New Green!" it says on the front cover of Preservation Magazine which we received as we walked in the door. Just think about that. When measured for energy consumption and indoor air quality, old buildings perform extremely well. Some of them perform as well as new buildings, and in the case of energy conservation, some of them perform better than new buildings. Not only are older buildings not sealed up and climate controlled like new ones often are, the materials from which older buildings are made are more likely to stand the test of time.
And possibly most important of all, old buildings are already here. The carbon footprint of using what we already have is almost always much less than it is for demolition and reconstruction. That's particularly important now because addressing climate change is urgent, and is, thankfully once more on the national agenda. I like this news, since I'm a big fan of recycling, including old buildings, and of doing what we can to minimize our impact on the natural environment. Environmental responsibility is important if we're going to preserve what we have here. And preserving what we have here is what historic preservation is all about. If you are interested in historic preservation as it pertains to the environment, contact Sandy Strehlou at the town of Friday Harbor. She's great.
Now for some other really important facts. For lunch we had a taco and salad feast catered by Chef Paul from Pablito's Taqueria, which convinced me I have to make this new restaurant in the location where Steps used to be a regular stop for food from now on. Since I'm pretty bad at providing myself with healthy and imaginative food choices which are delicious and affordable, such food in town is a very good thing. The tacos, both meat and vegetarian, were amazing, as was the salad. And he makes a fabulous brownie. For an all day workshop, having a nice big, dense chocolate brownie to nosh on during the afternoon panel discussion was perfect.
Besides being educational, "Rehab Green" introduced me to lots of people in the world of construction here and gave me a renewed sense of what I have to contribute to the community. I've been out of the saddle as an architect for a while. Getting back up to speed on building terminology reminded me how enjoyable it is to be in the company of colleagues. I love writing, which I'm pursuing in this place where I can get help from top notch teachers. That's going well. But spending the day speaking the lingo of the building trade was great too. It reminded me many people here wear more than one hat in order to make a living and contribute to the community.
When I topped off the weekend by going to the performance of The San Juan Singers on Sunday, that also reminded me this is a place where you can go meet with a bunch of technical experts on one day and the next day watch a very similar group of people singing Broadway hits for fun and entertainment.
I love to volunteer at the San Juan Community Theater. For an hour of time helping with tickets and concessions, volunteers get a comp ticket to see the show. That's also the kind of place this is. Watching my pennies does not preclude me from seeing live theater.
If you're interested in helping out at the theater, contact Volunteer Coordinator Janet Ludwig. It's such a good deal. Plus I get to see all kinds of people there, some I know, some I'm meeting for the first time, just like at the workshop.
I can honestly say, now I've been here a while, I've made friends, am getting to know the place, and feel more and more I have a stake in what happens in the San Juans.
© M.E. Rollins
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