By Shane Totten, AIA, BIT Pro and Bailey Shea This is the third article in a series on the Regenerative Economy. Read Part 1 on Regenerative Design and Part 2 on the Role of Public Policy on Regenerative Practices. Perhaps you’ve heard the adage, “the journey is the destination.” It’s certainly true of the transition we must make […]
Category: Southface
Posted inThought Leadership
Using the Levers of Policy to Achieve a Regenerative Economy
By Shane Totten, Catherine Butler Gunter, and Lisa Bianchi-Fossati of Southface Institute Part 2 in a three-part series on the Regenerative Economy. Read Part 1 on Regenerative Design. As the American population increased over the last 150 years, the cost of the “take-make-use-dispose” nature of the linear economy was not fully understood or appreciated. The […]
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The Regenerative Economy: Sustaining Society’s Future by Design
By Shane Totten, AIA, BIT Pro Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the health of Western societies/economies has been measured by their year-over-year growth. Much of that growth has relied on harvesting readily available, cheap materials to produce products for a growing consumer base. Once those products are no longer needed or wanted, consumers […]
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Local Eagle Scout Project Highlights the Positive Impact Youth Can Make in Sustainability
By Stephen Ward, Southface Institute Facility Manager As a demonstration facility of all things sustainable, Southface Institute showcases many operational features, including methods to process food and gardening waste. Due to its age and exposure to the elements, Southface’s outdoor composting system had started to break down, making it difficult to properly maintain the right […]
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Georgia School Blazes Trail to Become 100% Solar-Powered
Featured Image: The SAE School in Mableton is on its way to becoming Georgia’s first 100% solar-powered school. Photo courtesy of Southface Institute. By Southface On a hot, humid September day, dozens of students, teachers, well-wishers and project participants gathered outside of The SAE School in Mableton. The occasion was to celebrate a ribbon-cutting of […]
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Boys & Girls Clubs Provide Heroic Meal Service to Northwest Montana Communities
Featured Image: Volunteers prepare hundreds of meals for the Flathead Reservation and Lake County’s pandemic-affected communities. In a location that already struggles with food insecurity, Club Director Aric Cooksley says they had to move fast. Photos by Jimmy Ray Stagg By Emily Proctor, Southface Institute The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Flathead Reservation and […]
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Georgia’s Mass Timber and the Triple Bottom Line
By Shane Totten, Southface Institute UPDATE: Since the time of this article’s original publication, HB 777 passed the Georgia Senate on June 16 and was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp on June 29. HB 1015 did not move out of the Senate, but Southface and our partners continue to work together to bring […]
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Boys & Girls Clubs Come to the Rescue of First Responders
By Emily Proctor, Southface Institute Always on the frontline of communities in need, nonprofits are now struggling more than ever to provide for those who depend on them, with competition for donation dollars fierce in the COVID-19 environment. Even so, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County, a grantee of Southface’s GoodUse program, quickly saw the […]
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7 Steps to Better Indoor Air Quality During the COVID-19 Crisis
By Southface Staff Your home should be your sanctuary—an inviting place where you can rest, rejuvenate and heal from life’s daily stressors. These days, it is where you may be spending most of your waking hours, trying to keep yourself and your loved ones safe and healthy. But creating a haven takes more than investing […]
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Earth Hour 2020
By Southface Saturday, March 28, is Earth Hour, the yearly global appointment when people in over 180 countries turn off their lights for one hour in solidarity for the planet’s future. This year especially, when we’re being asked to distance ourselves for the sake of community health and safety, Earth Hour gives us an opportunity […]
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Building Science Expertise Helping At-Risk Seniors Stay in Their Homes
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Southface staff and friends during the orientation to the house they would be working on during the MLK Service Project in Decatur, GA Southface Institute staffers joined 954 volunteers at the 2020 Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Project in Decatur, Georgia By Sarah Mundell, Southface Institute Southface Institute is honored to share the hometown […]
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What the 2020 Georgia Energy Code Updates Mean for You
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text dp_text_size=”size-4″] Starting January 1 there are new regulations to follow By Sarah Mundell, Southface Institute Attention building professionals: Effective January 1, 2020, all new construction and renovations in Georgia must comply with new State Minimum Standard Energy Code, the first major revision of the energy code in nearly a decade. The new code includes […]
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Southface Institute – A Look Back on a Successful 2019
By Southface Board of Directors As 2019 draws to a close, Southface Institute is thankful for the victories that supporters have helped the nonprofit achieve in creating more sustainable homes, workplaces and communities here in Atlanta, in the Southeast and across the country. Here are a few of the standout accomplishments this year. High-Performance Practices […]
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The Challenges of Urban Stormwater
By Southface Institute with Katherine Zitsch and Katherine Atteberry Leading up to Southface Institute’s December 6 Sustainable Atlanta Roundtable, the second in a two-part series on Protecting Our Water Resources in an Urban Environment, Katherine Zitsch and Katherine Atteberry from the Atlanta Regional Commission answer a few questions about how stormwater pushes urban areas to […]
Posted inSustainable Communities
Lessons Learned on Southface Institute’s Journey to Zero Waste
By By Samantha Shaye, Southface Institute The 3Rs—reduce, reuse and recycle—have been taught in many classrooms from elementary school. Unfortunately, most people skip steps “reduce” and “reuse” and immediately go to “recycle” or, worse yet, the trash can. But a world groaning under the volume of waste from its growing population needs to find solutions […]
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7 Ways to Make Small Business Operations More Sustainable
By Southface Staff Thanks to environmental, social and business trends, sustainability is becoming much more of a priority for businesses. It not only affects companies’ cost structures, but it is increasingly a crucial differentiator for investors, consumers and B2B customers. What’s the best way to approach integrating sustainable practices in business operations? Here are seven […]
Posted inSouthface, Sustainable Communities, Thought Leader, Uncategorized
Building a Sustainable City
by Pamela Henman, Southface Bright lights and soaring towers make up Atlanta’s iconic skyline, but also represent an opportunity to tackle one of the planet’s most pressing issues: energy and water consumption. According to the Department of Energy, about 20 percent of the energy used in the U.S. goes to power commercial buildings, and the […]
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Getting to Zero Waste
By Pamela Henman Increasingly, consumers, corporations, and cities are waking the sleeping giant that is plastic pollution, as a recent spate of corporate and municipal bans on single use plastic items like plastic straws and bags make global headlines. According to the United Nations Environment, about 60 percent of the more than 8.3 billion tons […]
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High Performance Without the High Price Tag
By David Bailey, Project Manager, Southface Most intown Atlantans know that housing prices are rising and some rents have risen by as much as 70 percent. This means less affordable housing across the city for those who need it most, including seniors. For seniors living in the heart of the city, affordability is especially critical. […]
Posted inHigher Education, Southface, Thought Leader, Uncategorized
How Georgia is Improving Affordable Housing as a Platform for Health
By Jimmy Dills, Georgia Health Policy Center Access to quality, affordable housing is critical for supporting good health. For individuals and families with tight budgets, high housing costs can lead to tough choices between making rent and going to the doctor, between keeping the lights on and buying healthy food, or even between being part […]
