STEPHANI CARTER
What do you actually do?
I wear a lot of hats during any given day. Our companies are designed to make the transition to a more sustainable building industry fun and easy. I educate people about building green and choosing green and healthy building products and materials.
Did you choose your job, or did it choose you?
It chose me. I’ve been a “greeny” my whole life. I certified myself as an “earth caretaker” through the Strathcona Wilderness Centre when I was 11 (and I still have the certificate to prove it!). Somewhere along the line, someone must have told me “you can’t make a living at saving the world” and I decided to go into my second love – design.
What specific experience inspired your passion to work in the environmental field?
I attended a private art school called Waldorf from kindergarten to Grade 3. It was magical and very inspirational. It definitely set the basis of my values and my environmental awareness. We were taught to embrace change and differences, to love and accept everyone and everything, to follow our little souls and do what makes us happy in life. My mother also has been a large influence in my life; she was a Waldorf teacher and believed in the philosophy of teaching young people to be the best individuals they can.
In a province that leans towards a conservative, business-first, environment-last attitude, how do you remain motivated?
Motivation is the key to continuing in any time of change. I constantly inspire myself to keep going with the local community. We are actually living in a hotbed of social and environmental entrepreneurs and leaders. Everywhere I look there are events or organizations or companies starting up that are tackling another aspect of the “green” movement. I also read a lot of green-related non-fiction books that bring me closer to my heroes of green and environmental work.
What do you think is the biggest environmental challenge facing Albertans? The planet?
That’s tough, but possibly education. Most of us believe we are doing OK because we have been doing what we do for 50 to 100 years and nothing in the past has led us to believe otherwise. When you talk about the oil industry and the damage it is causing, a lot of people find it hard to listen because they make their livelihood from that industry: our strongest industry, the industry that took our province out of debt and is leading our province to times of growth and spending, which has made it easier for me to start my own company. However, when you educate people on the facts and share with them goals of the future, we all can agree on what we want. It will just take some time.
What impact does your work, and the organization/company you work for, actually have on improving the health of the environment? What are you doing to change the way your employer operates?
We teach at different post-secondary institutes, at private facilities and every day on the job at our construction projects. We get people excited about going green and then help them get there. My personal passion is around educating and inspiring my colleagues to design for health as well as aesthetics. When we as interior designers create a new space for a client, it is not just about how beautiful and efficient the workspace is. We now have to keep in mind that we are affecting the health of others. With the stroke of a pen we can add to the level of toxicity in someone or conversely we can make a healthy workplace.
How can companies, organizations and/or individuals balance financial well-being and environmental sustainability? Is this even possible?
There is no “organic door” to an organic world where everything is perfect. We are living in a time of transformation. Each of us has to pick what is most important to us and act on it. No one can say they are perfectly green, or make no impact on the world. They would be hypocrites. All of us, even the most “green” of people, have a negative environmental impact on the world simply because our current societal model makes it so. We should no longer point fingers at one another. That is not the way to encourage change; that just makes people or companies feel like they are backed into a corner and have to back up their decisions. Instead, we must utilize this transformation period to change into a society where we accept and encourage everyone’s green actions. If all the energy spent pointing fingers was used to personally take action we would certainly speed up this peaceful revolution.
Who is your environmental hero?
There are several: David Suzuki, Jane Goodall, Simon Knight (the CEO of Climate Change Central), Godo Stoyke of Carbon Busters, Mark Anielski (author of The Economics of Happiness), and Micheal Kalmanovitch from Earth’s General Store in Edmonton.
Do you consider yourself an environmentalist? Why or why not?
Yes, absolutely! However, my environmental activism is restrained to starting businesses that are structured and goal-orientated to make change in the world for the better.
BURDENIUK
What do you actually do?
I educate people and try to get them interested and excited about green building solutions. As an industrial designer, I am a trained problem solver. Often times, Stephani and I are asked a myriad of questions and are given the task to either have or search out the solutions.
We help facilitate the LEED certification process and ensure that the vision of a green building is maintained all the way through the design and construction process. We are often the consistent voice for a client’s green intentions. We also make sure the consultants on the team understand the LEED certification process and are able to complete and submit all of the necessary documentation. And there is a lot of it. We also try to simplify the process so that it isn’t overwhelming for the team.
I also teach “Green Design” in the University of Alberta’s residential interiors program in the Faculty of Extension. It is really rewarding and I learn as much from my students as they learn from me. The EcoAmmo team and I developed the course last year and it has been really successful. We had to allow more people into the class because the waiting list was so long.
Did you choose your job, or did it choose you?
I chose the job that found me. Stephani started EcoAmmo in June 2006 and at a Christmas party for a local non-profit group, MADE in Edmonton, I leaned over to Steph and told her that when she got busy enough for two people, that she should give me a call. A few weeks later she called me, and in March 2007 I joined the EcoAmmo forces.
What specific experience inspired your passion to work in the environmental field?
There wasn’t one specific experience. I have always been interested in the environment. When I was in industrial design, I thought it just made sense to design with the environment in mind. I was really surprised to find that I was a bit of a black sheep in the department. My peers were busy designing objects that would look fantastic in magazines, but in reality would do a lot of harm to the environment, either in production, use, or disposal at the end of their life. So when I completed my undergrad at the University of Alberta and started working within the architectural community, I realized that there was so much waste and so many possibilities for improvements. Again, as an industrial designer I am quite generally a problem solver and saw that this was a problem that many people were avidly trying to make a difference, and I wanted to be a part of the solution.
In a province that leans towards a conservative, business-first, environment-last attitude, how do you remain motivated?
How can I not be motivated? There is nothing of greater importance for us to put our efforts towards. I see the issues we face today as fantastic opportunities for change and innovation. There are so many people working so hard in this province to make a difference, and I’ve seen so very much change even in the last few years. Our business-first attitude is really important to note, but it is beneficial for the environmental movement as well. Time and time again the best solutions I have seen are ones that are good for the environment and for business, making them more realistic as long-term solutions.
What do you think is the biggest environmental challenge facing Albertans? The planet?
Energy, food, water and waste management. Sounds simple. However, we really need to realize that conservation is easier than finding more when the resources we have run out. We still get a majority of our electricity here in Alberta from coal, which in itself is a big issue. We have the opportunity to diversify our economy and invest in other forms of energy production. We are also quite disconnected from our food and water sources. We need to look at the food we eat and decide if we really need apples from South Africa and mushrooms from California. We are building on our prime farmland to further develop our cities and suburbs, and will soon come to find that we have to import more food then ever before. The water we get in Alberta is fed by glaciers that are disappearing. Yet we flush gallons down our toilets. In the summer months are gluttonous water users, aspiring to have the perfect carpet-like lawn. We are getting better, but there is a long way to go. As for waste management, we have an absolutely fantastic facility in Edmonton, the Edmonton Waste Management Centre of Excellence, which finds ways to divert an estimated 80 per cent of waste from the landfill through composting and recycling. However, as Albertans, we are still one of the largest generators of waste in the country, annually producing about 800 kilograms of waste per capita. So although our waste management system is worth being really proud of, we also need to look at the two other Rs that come before recycle: reduce and reuse.
Who is your environmental hero?
Cameron Sinclair (cameronsinclair.com ). He started Architecture for Humanity and wrote a fantastic book called Design Like You Give A Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises. I saw him lecture a few months ago in Calgary and I was blown away by the amount that he has been able to do in such a small period of time. He said they were able to do what they did because no one told them they couldn’t, much like EcoAmmo. As a result of the TED Prize, he and Stohr launched the Open Architecture Network, the world’s first open-source community dedicated to improving living conditions through innovative and sustainable design. If you aren’t a TEDster you have to check out ted.com; however, it should come with a disclaimer: make sure you set a time limit for yourself, as you could be on this site for hours.
Do you consider yourself an environmentalist? Why or why not?
Yes and no. I consider my self an active citizen. Steph and I joke that we don’t have to chain ourselves to trees or stop shaving to be concerned about the environment. We vote every day with the dollars we spend. As designers we take pride in being accountable for our designs and the projects we are involved in. I think being an environmentalist gets you a bad rap. It is important to consider the environment in all things you do. However, as a new business owner, it is also important to choose solutions that are realistic, and not get overwhelmed.
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