IDID Conference Workshops and Bios at AIA New Hampshire

2008 IDID Conference
Stepping Up to the 2030 Challenge

Presenters, panelists, and moderators:

Peter Adams started EVP Marketing and Media, in Waterville Valley, a digital media company, after graduating from Plymouth State College in 1994. Concerned about the implications of Peak Oil and the consequent depletion of world oil supplies on the local area he, along with Sandra Jones, started the Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative (PAREI) in 2004, to help the area, and its residents, plan for a lower energy world. A membership not-for-profit organization, today the initiative has over 175 families and organizations as members and is known throughout the state and New England region as a leader in the planning for the coming of Peak Oil.

Patrick Bourgeron is the Director of the Center for the Environment at Plymouth State University. A native of France and US citizen for 21 years, Patrick is an internationally recognized ecosystem researcher and scientist. He comes to PSU from the University of Colorado's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, where he has served as research Fellow since 1997. He has over three decades of experience in environmental research, planning, land use policy and teaching in the U.S., France, Canada and Africa.

Peter Britz is the Environmental Planner/Sustainablity Coordinator for the the City of Portsmouth's. Since 2000 he has worked on a broad spectrum of environmental and sustainability issues throughout the City. Peter has coordinated the City's membership in ICLEI and completed the first ICLEI milestone, the citywide carbon inventory. He has also worked to coordinate the City's membership in the Mayor's Climate protection agreement and assisted with the new designation of Portsmouth as an ecomunicipality. Peter has carried out many successful open space acquisition and wetlands protection projects. Peter has participated in, and helped to organize, educational workshops on sustainability, the 2008 Sustainability Fair and works to engage residents, business owners and other stakeholders in the ongoing discussion about how to carry out sustainable practices at the local level. Peter serves as a staff liaison to the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Committee on Sustainable Practices.

Bert Cohen is currently Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of New Hampshire where he team-teaches classes in Sustainable Living. He lives in Portsmouth, NH, where he is a member of the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Committee on Sustainability. He is co-founder of the Piscataqua Sustainable Initiative and is on the Steering Committee for Portsmouth Listens. He uses his skills as an educational consultant for both national and international programs that are focused on creating a healthy future. During his forty plus years of teaching he has been actively exploring how to form learning communities, both in the classroom and in the civic realm.

Bill Crangle is the Vice President for Financial Affairs at Plymouth State University. He will retire from this position this summer. He will return to the University as a half-time Special Assistant to the President for Environmental Sustainability, to lead the University's efforts in environmental sustainability.

Kenneth A. (Ken) Colburn started Symbiotic Strategies, an independent consultancy, in early 2005 to pursue his professional interest in climate change, energy, public policy, and the intersection of environmental and economic opportunity. Since then, Ken has helped lead several state climate action planning processes with the Center for Climate Strategies and has provided strategic assistance to foundations, progressive companies, and non-governmental organizations in their efforts to address climate and energy issues. Previously Ken was Executive Director of the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM), and prior to that role led the Air Resources Division of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) where he helped to make the state a leader in reducing air pollution with the nation's first "4-pollutant" legislation for power plants and the first greenhouse gas emissions reduction registry law. Prior to joining NHDES in 1995, Ken was Vice President of Energy and Environmental Policy at the Business & Industry Association of New Hampshire (BIA), representing the state's business community on environmental, energy, and telecommunications matters in legislative and regulatory forums. Ken holds a B.S. in mathematics from M.I.T. and M.B.A. and M.Ed. Degrees from the University of New Hampshire.

S. Tyler Durham is the Youth Education Coordinator at D Acres of New Hampshire, an organic farm and educational homestead in Dorchester. Before moving to D Acres, Tyler taught 7th grade Special Ed. at Epping Middle School, in Epping, NH; U.S. History, U.S. Government, World History, and World Geography at Mount Prospect Academy in Plymouth, NH; and English at YiChun University in China. He has also contributed his efforts to growing food at other farms in New Hampshire and Maine. Tyler rides his bike.

Ben Frost is the Director of Public Affairs at New Hampshire Housing, where he coordinates legislative efforts at the state and federal levels and provides direct technical assistance to municipalities that want to develop regulations to promote affordable housing. Previously, he was a Senior Planner with the NH Office of Energy and Planning, the executive director of the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission, and a planner and administrator in local and regional government in New Hampshire and elsewhere. Ben is an attorney and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. He serves on the executive boards of the NH Planners Association and the Northern New England Chapter of the American Planning Association. Ben holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in Geography and Russian Studies from Colgate University and Syracuse University, respectively and a law degree from Cornell Law School. He lives in Milford, NH, where he serves on the planning board.

Hilary Harris has been working with the design/build firm, Bensonwood for five years. While her primary role at Bensonwood is as a project architect, she has been instrumental in improving environmental performance – both in the company's facilities and its products. Hilary has a wide array of experience in green design – always with an eye for craft and for improving the environmental performance of buildings through Bensonwood's Open-Built® construction protocol and other green technologies. Before joining the "Beam Team," Hilary worked with a small architectural firm in Vermont, focusing on adaptive re-use projects and award-winning green buildings. There she helped co-author the Vermont Builds Greener program and served as a board member for Builders for Social Responsibility. Hilary has been involved with LEED building design from its inception, gaining early experience as a consultant in Boulder, CO, during both the initial pilot phase of LEED, and as the LEED consultant for the first LEED certified building in New England. Hilary's experience in developing standards for green building, along with her dedicated public service over the years, has helped her to keep abreast of the most current green-building issues and informs her design.

Kate Hartnett is a geographer who works on reducing the ecological footprint of the built environment. In 1995, she helped found The Jordan Institute, a non-profit center for efficient land- and energy-use practices. Kate now works on integrated design and development projects. Since 1992, she has collaboratively designed, and lived in, two energy-efficient active and passive solar homes, and co-manages a 150-acre tree farm. She's also working on a high-performance renovation of a 1910 home in Berlin reducing energy use by half so far.

Carol Jowdy is a landscape painter/naturalist turned Ecological Landscape Designer. She is an educator at Plymouth State University where she recently designed an integrative course entitled "The Art of Sustainability." Carol is a Coverts Cooperator working with UNH Cooperative Extensive promoting land preservation and intelligent land use practices. Working in concert with The New England Wildflower Society, Carol encourages the use of native species in the landscapes, and works to promote a self-contained, closed system approach to gardening. Her work includes biodiversity planning, food producing ecologies, "right plant, right place" self-renewing low impact design with rain water harvesting wherever possible. Carol's holistic approach to design integrates built structure with the character of the site in an effort to maintain "a sense of place." As an environmental educator, Carol has presented at conferences, has worked with Squam Lakes Association Student Conservation Corps, and other local student groups to educate and eradicate invasive species. She is presently working with local community groups to promote intelligent land use and ecologically sound best management practices.

Steve Kahl is a Professor in the new Department of Environmental Science and Policy at Plymouth State University and serves as the chief scientist for the Center for the Environment's Environmental Research Laboratory. He was the founding director of the Center from fall 2004 to spring 2008. His research interests include acid rain, lake chemistry, mercury cycling, paleolimnology, and the intersection of science and public policy.

Edward Mazria FAIA is an internationally-recognized architect, author, educator and lecturer with a long and distinguished career. His award-winning architecture and planning projects span over a thirty-year period and each employs a cutting-edge environmental approach to design. He is the author of numerous published works, including the "bible" of solar design, The Passive Solar Energy Book, which is in use worldwide. Mr. Mazria has lectured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Most recently, Mr. Mazria has reshaped the national and international dialogue on climate change to incorporate building design and the "Building Sector." His research exposed two critical facts, that the Building Sector is responsible for almost half (48%) of all energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the US, and that 76% of the electricity generated by US power plants goes to operate buildings.

Based on his research, Mr. Mazria founded Architecture 2030 (www.architecture2030.org), a non-profit organization with the goal of achieving a dramatic reduction in the global-warming-causing GHG emissions of the Building Sector by changing the way buildings and developments are planned, designed and constructed. He then developed and issued The 2030 Challenge, a measured and achievable strategy to dramatically reduce global GHG emissions and fossil-fuel consumption by the year 2030.

The Challenge has had a significant national impact, having been:

adopted by the 90,000-member American Institute of Architects, the US Conference of Mayors (for all buildings in all cities; Resolution #50), US Green Building Council, National Association of Counties and individual cities and counties;
endorsed by International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives and incorporated into their "Statement of Action";

integrated into the EPA's Target Finder;
promoted by Governor Bill Richardson, mayors Daley, Chavez, Diaz and Nichols, the National Wildlife Federation, ASHRAE, American Solar Energy Society, Society of Building Science Educators and others; and
incorporated into city and state legislation. Beginning in 2008, the Architecture 2030 Challenge energy reduction targets are required for all new and renovated federal buildings.

Lorraine Stuart Merrill is the state’s new Commissioner of Agriculture, replacing longtime commissioner Steve Taylor. Lorraine is also a writer specializing in agriculture, business, community planning, and the environment. She has contributed articles in Forest Notes, the University of New Hampshire Magazine, the Boston Sunday Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, 2nd Home Journal, regional and national farm magazines, and publications on Smart Growth and preserving rural character for the state Office of Energy and Planning. She and her family own a dairy farm in Stratham. Merrill and her husband, John, received the American Farmland Trust's 2003 Steward of the Land Award for "outstanding leadership at the national, state, and local levels in protecting farmland and caring for the environment."

Patrick Miller is a Research Associate Professor with the University of New Hampshire College of Health and Human Services. He works with the NH Institute for Health Policy and Practice and teaches in the Master of Public Health Program. Prior to joining UNH in the fall of 2006, Patrick was the Executive Director of The Jordan Institute in Concord, NH. Patrick serves on the speaker bureaus for the NH-based Carbon Coaltion and former Vice President Gore's international education effort The Climate Project. Patrick is also a steering committee member for the NH Carbon Challenge, a residential-focused carbon reduction program. Patrick lives with his family in Campton, NH, in a passive and active solar home certified by EnergyStar in 2004.

Clay Mitchell graduated with a Juris Doctor and Masters in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School. In the last 12 years, Clay has worked as an attorney and a planner for regional planning commissions, municipalities, and private clients. He has lectured throughout the region on land use and energy matters. Clay recently completed his doctorate in Natural Resources and Earth Systems Science at UNH.

June Hammond Rowan is the Outreach and Development Coordinator for the Center for the Environment at Plymouth State University. Previously, she has worked as land use planner for the communities of Berlin and Plymouth, NH. She has also worked as a Water Resources planner for the NH Office of Energy and Planning and for the Appalachian Mountain Club as a staff scientist focusing on acid rain research and northern forest land use issues. June has a BA in geography from the University of Chicago and a MA in geography from the University of Colorado.

Bill Schoonmaker enjoys a one-person architectural firm in Durham, not far from the NH seacoast. He has been engaged in architecture and planning for 30 years, designing small-scale residential projects and occasionally larger commercial and institutional projects. Choosing to live in a small college town to take advantage of community-building opportunities, Bill has served as chairs of the Durham Main Street program, Durham Historic District Commission, and Board of Trustees for the Durham Town Library. He taught an Introduction to Architecture course at the University of NH for 10 semesters. He is a past president of AIANH, edited the AIANH newsletter, NHForum, for ten years, serves on the NH Board of Architectural Registration, and provides tasteful commentary as MC for the AIANH Excellence in Architecture awards presentations each year. Family, professional practice and community participation form the foundation of Bill's priorities.

Patricia Sherman FAIA, was founder and principal of Warrenstreet Architects, Inc., formerly Sherman Greiner Hallé Ltd., an architecture, landscape architecture, and land planning firm in Concord, NH. Patricia has over forty years of experience in both architectural and multi-disciplinary projects, including commercial, institutional, educational, residential, and community planning work. Her work has been recognized both nationally and locally. She was part of the team that received an award fromt the Uran Land Institute for Best Community Development and was recognized by AIA National in an exhibit of Women Architects. In January 2008 she received an Outstanding Service Award from AIA New Hampshire for her leadership in the NH AIA150 project: A NH Community Planning Model. She is known for her communication and facilitation skills and for her ability to work in a community setting.

Leith Sharp, is the Founder and Director of the Harvard Green Campus Initiative (HGCI), an organization of 25 full time professional staff funded through the savings generated by working to integrate campus environmental sustainability throughout Harvard University. Leith has a bachelor of Environmental (UNSW) and a Master of Education in human development and psychology (Harvard). She has 15 years of experience in greening universities and currently instructs two courses offered through the Harvard Extension School, Organizational Change Management for Sustainability and Sustainable Buildings: Design, Construction and Operations. www.greencampus.harvard.edu. Leith has received numerous awards for her work including a Churchill Fellowship and Young Australian of the Year, NSW Environment Category.

Dr. Sara Jayne Steen became the 14th president of Plymouth State University on June 30, 2006. Her prior service includes having been dean of the College of Letters and Science at Montana State University; an American Council on Education Fellow in residence at the University of Delaware; and professor and chair of the Department of English at Montana State University. She has more than 30 years of experience in higher education as a faculty member and senior administrator and has received awards for distinction in teaching and for excellence in scholarship. Dr. Steen is committed to establishing PSU's leadership nationally with regard to environmental sustainability initiatives.

Donald H. Sienkiewicz is a real estate attorney at Rath, Young & Pignatelli, P.C. in Concord, New Hampshire, and a member of the Homebuilders and Remodelers Association of New Hampshire's Legislative and Green Building Committees. He is also counsel to the New Hampshire Farm Bureau and an advocate for farmland preservation and healthy local economies. He is the developer of First Light Neighborhood & Farm, www.firstlightneighborhood.com, a conservation subdivision in Wilton, NH, where he lives with his wife Katja, their four children, three goats, one Saint Bernard, a flock of chickens and a Belgian mare named Polly.

Anne Stephenson is the Campus Outreach Coordinator at Clean Air – Cool Planet. Before joining CA-CP, Anne completed her accreditation as a green building consultant (LEED AP), and her doctorate in architectural history at the University of Chicago. Her doctoral research focused on local, state, and federal policies promoting energy efficient and historically sensitive renovations.

Mary Tebo, an Urban and Community Forestry Educator for UNH Cooperative Extension, partners with Tree Steward volunteers, community residents, and officials to improve natural resources in New Hampshire's cities and towns. Mary has been recognized for her innovative and creative program accomplishments by the EPA, USDA Forests Service, and UNH Cooperative Extension. One example is the installation of Manchester's first green roof, in September 2007. A former school teacher with environmental educational and conservation degrees, Mary integrates her passion for the natural world into landscapes and gardens.

Randall Walter is a company steward and lead architect at the design/build firm, Bensonwood Homes, located in Walpole, NH. Over the past decade, Randall has focused on specification-independent strategies to design/build: core strategies with known components that form the 3D software approach to residential design and construction. The resulting Open-Built® design/build system has fostered rapid design exploration, as well as predictable cost, performance, and aesthetic results. Randall has a Bachelor of Architecture and French, from Carnegie Mellon University. He is an adjunct professor of Architecture at Keene State College and has developed and taught design studio, architectural history, and a biennial design/build practicum. Randall's designs have appeared in This Old House magazine, Fine Homebuilding, Architectural Digest, and American Bungalow, and he has served residential clients from California to the United Kingdom.

Steve Whitman has worked in state and regional planning for over ten years. He currently works for the consulting firm of Jeffrey H. Taylor and Associates where he is involved in master planning, design charrettes, and watershed planning. He formerly worked at the New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning, coordinating several major land use studies and projects including aspects of the State's Smart Growth Program. He was a founding member of the Natural Resource Outreach Coalition (NROC) and the Minimum Impact Development Partnership (MID). He is an adjunct faculty member at PSU, teaching courses on Community and Environmental Planning issues with an emphasis on long term sustainability.

Marilyn Wyzga is a professional artist and a teaching naturalist. She created and coordinates Project HOME, the NH Fish and Game Department's award-winning schoolyard habitat program, engaging communities in wildlife habitat practices since 1991. As a wildlife educator, Marilyn writes about and conducts public programs throughout the region on enhancing landscapes for wildlife. She has applied her design skills to interpretive and educational exhibits and children's theater, and has recently turned them to landscape design. In 2007, Marilyn was named New England's Environmental Educator of the Year.

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