Earth Day founder to speak at sustainable building conference

Dennis Hayes, national coordinator for the first Earth Day in 1970, will speak in Bellingham at Sustainable Connections’ annual Sustainable Design and Development Conference next month.

The conference goes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 4 and 5 in Bellingham Technical College’s Settlemyer Hall. The annual conference brings together sustainable planning, design and construction professionals for lectures, tours and other activities.

Hayes and Corey Weathers are keynote speakers for the event. As CEO of the Bullitt Foundation—a Seattle nonprofit—Hayes oversaw the design and construction of Seattle’s Bullitt Center, which was designed to be the world’s “greenest” commercial building.

The International Living Future Institute awarded the building, at 1501 East Madison St., “Living Building” certification, the most stringent sustainable building certification.

Weathers, the other keynote speaker, is the principal of Catalyst 2030, a Seattle-area firm that “advocates for, develops and showcases high-performance and resource efficient communities,” according to its website.

The conference costs $145 for members of Sustainable Connections, Cascadia Green Building Council, and the Northwest Washington chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and $175 for everyone else.

Learn more about the conference at Sustainable Connections’ website.

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