4 Years Old

EcoSpaces just celebrated the completion of four years in business supplying Green Building Materials to our community, and what an adventure it has been. We threw a party with beer and wine to thank our past clients, woo some new ones, and celebrate that EcoSpaces is still standing. We opened our doors in 2007, when contractors were still pulling down more money than lawyers in this town and property lots were selling for over a million dollars.

Yes, Telluride is, and has always been, a boom/bust town, and now seeing it in retrospect, little did we know, just a year after we opened our doors we would be heading into the greatest economic down turn since the great depression in this country. The bubble did not pop right away here, and sustainability and green building simultaneously gained popularity and press. So we wondered, even if people were starting to be strapped for cash, would they still choose a comparable but SUSTAINABLE product in the end? Other boutique green building showrooms like ours were falling from grace just at the same time that the big banks started their infectious toppling motion. Our mantra was “Stay above water so we can be in position to dominate the upswing.”

I think we have been able to hang in because 1) we intentionally created a lean business brokering materials and drop shipping them to the job site instead of warehousing anything. 2) We boot strapped during the slowest part of the recession and cut back on all staff and many other expenses for that very slow time. 3) We were very fortuitous to find an angel investor who believed in the concept of our business and had invested capital into this start up. Each year, our business has grown; people are still building and remodeling, yet fewer numbers. Of course we have seen fewer building permits, more projects halted based on lack of loan funding, and foreclosure has found too many people in our circles confronted with hard luck.

We are school teachers turned entrepreneurs, we learn as we go, and feel that we have earned our honorary MBAs as we have been forced to study web design, marketing, social networking, cold calling, communications, psychology, contact management and project management systems, outside sales and much more. It has certainly been an education and there is an abundance to learn. We even hired Allison Wollfe of Vibrant Planet, who coaches on business strategies, marketing plans and communication techniques for companies focused on social and environmental innovations. After a slew of interviews conducted with architects, designers, developers, contractors, and realtors, asking them pointed questions about their interest and commitment to the type of building materials we carry the findings were important for the growth of the company.

What we learned was, in this economy, people are way more money conscious than they are green conscious. They are first most concerned about getting an affordable product, next they want it to be aesthetically pleasing, durable, and finally it is an added bonus that it is green. This was surprising to us, but also good to learn. We therefore decided to market our business as a design showroom providing innovative and aesthetically original materials that are durable, affordable, as well as sustainable. We learned that the “Conscious Consumer” (those already committed to Sustainability) is a very small percentage of people, and it is the people who are currently building and purchasing building materials are who we need to market. We have weeded out our product line to be able to offer comparable like priced products that are also “green” to those that are conventional. An example would be a product like our Beetle Kill Pine siding (taken from standing dead Pine trees devastated by the bark beetle epidemic) producing a product that looks like reclaimed barn wood, compared to a standard virgin pine siding product. Yes, some products still are a bit more in upfront cost but will stand up and last a whole lot longer like our 50-year roofing product than cheaper materials that may need to be replaced sooner.

When we started, we said that we wanted to be in business long enough that these green alternative building materials were no longer “alternative” but more the norm, and we could see the overall trend in building shift to a more sustainable one, and thus be forced out of business as our niche market went fully mainstream. But, for now, it seems like we still have work to be done, helping to offer Green Building Materials as a viable option to people living in homes.

RePurpose Art Show

What do you do with all of your extra stuff? I have always felt, while other developing countries struggle to obtain some basic needs, American’s are challenged with the opposite: how to get away from all the stuff that we accumulate in order to live a more simple life, free of clutter. I must admit, I even have a draw in my kitchen named the “odds and end drawer” designated to stuff that doesn’t really have a place to go. One of the simplest and most effective steps one can do for the green movement, that is, even more valuable than recycling, is RE-USING, finding a new purpose for the item you no longer need to transform it somehow into something that serves you. An old door can be used as a tabletop or a headboard. Left over tiles can be made into decorative stepping-stones, use salvaged windows to make a small green house. It takes a bit of creativity, but is also very rewarding. And this is why, in the spirit of Reusing, EcoSpaces Green Building Design Showroom is having a RE-PURPOSE art show that has inspired artists to create art for art sake with green building material extras.

Mosaic artists, sculptors, art teachers, jewelry makers and kids have pillaged a mountain of outdated samples. Cut-offs, already made from recycled materials such as glass countertops, beautiful exotic cork and bamboo flooring samples, recycled porcelain tiles and hand died silk fabrics, were taken back to studios and given yet another life as art. “We are constantly being exposed to the latest and greatest green building materials. And, therefore, we have gathered an excess of beautiful samples that we no longer need.” Says Joanna Kanow, founder or EcoSpaces. “We also wanted an excuse to throw a party to celebrate three years in business serving the community by supplying sustainable green building materials to architects, contractors and home owners and new greener building in our area.” Local artists of all ages will be displaying mosaics, sculptures, elaborate hot plates, window coverings, mobile, Zen floor mats, hard wood boxes, recycled class and concrete planters, and more. There will be a silent auction for most of the student art, to raise money for the Telluride School Art Department in order to purchase more supplies to make art. Prizes from EcoCleaners, The Garden Store, Cindy Bread, China Rose Tomboy Coffee and Counter Culture will be awarded for: most functional, most recycled, most original and other door prizes for those attending this reception. The RePurpose art show takes place Thursday, September 23, at 4:00pm at the EcoSpaces Green Building Design showroom in Lawson Hill Business Center. Call 970-728-1973 for more info.

Green Kids

"Walking the talk" is the most exciting challenge about owning a Green Business. For my standards: I should not be seen walking out of the coffee shop with a disposable cup, I don't want to be caught using another plastic spoon. Really, I shouldn't be driving a car, and my house should be off the grid. But, can I do it all and be non impact girl at all times? It is hard! I did make a new years resolution to not use plastic bags any more, and I have succeeded at this, but it has been quite the effort...electing to not buy more food that I can juggle in my arm span.

Just like when I was living in Spain trying to learn their language, I found that the more you learn (about the language) the more you learn you have to learn. This is the same about living Green. When you are up on the subject, you can find that almost everything we buy, breath, eat, drink, drive, and or live in is somehow bad for the environment. I know too much about which plastics not to drink out of, heat up, or dish wash....I know what toxins are disguised in my children's pajamas, toys, snacks. And, I know I should be wearing a medical mask if I am ever to walk into a newly painted or carpeted building not built green.

Sometimes, being educated on what is Green, Eco, or Non-toxic can also make one feel stuck when trying to be a conscious consumer. I do give credit that we actually have a conscience about this, and the thought process (guilt) actually occurs before throwing my vegetable scraps down a garbage disposal, or letting my kids play with balloons that will eventually end up in the land fill until their children have children . It must be liberating to those who toss their McDonald's dinner remains out their car window on the highway, without even a thought about how poluting this is. I wonder, how many people out there still do not care or make decisions on how their actions are having a greater impact on the earth. 30%? 50%? 90% of the population?

Anyways, we were celebrating our daughters 3rd birthday party! Now, parties, of any kind, can end up creating mountains of waste. Knowing that there were going to be 30+ guests enjoying a Sunday afternoon picnic with us at our pond, I did want to host a memorable event. Do I feed other kids non organic crappy snacks, even though I try to feed my kids mostly healthy and organic? Do I serve beer to the adults, even though I don't drink alcohol? Do I get cheap party favors, since everyone else traditionally gives these out in a cute little bag at the end of parties? Last year I sent everyone home with a locally grown peach...

Trying to walk the talk and be the most Green is a challenge, but in the end, it is worth it. As, I feel that I have to be the example I hope to see in the world. No party favors this year. Swimming was the party!

Traveling Green with kids

Just back from a two week trip on the road with the family touring the West a bit. Weddings, Birthday Parties, Birth of a new Baby, visiting good old friends and grandparent! This, was a trip celebrating all things sweet in life. But, being the Green conscious person that I am, I am always aware of if I am living up to my standard of treading lightly on this earth. Add, two kids, a few air line flights, a rental car, and eating out more, I begin to wonder how much harm we are doing by being on the road. At home, we have our scene pretty dialed: garden, fire wood, well water, hybrid vehicle, minimal energyuse, we eat at home, and pack our meals with local organic produce, compost, etc. But, once on the road, it is difficult to make a zero waste impact with the family in tow. And, away from our sustainable island, you also realize how much of the outside world is not even slightly concerned with how much environmental impact they are having on the overall well being of the planet. Depending on where I was traveling, I got the sense that it was not a top priority to most to take the extra steps to live green. Before reaching for the 8th plastic fork in the take out food world, I made a mid course correction on our travel trip with the kids, and here were some of the green tips I thought we could share: Everyone needs their own re-usable water bottle, and packing 1 extra is also a good idea since inevitably someone will loose one. Do not accept bottled water! Do carry your own utensils and even a re-usable container for left overs. Bring the stroller and the scooter and walk as much as possible. Also, make sure to bring your own re-usable bag for marketing and cup for cafes. But the bottom line is, the most green traveling you can do it NOT travel. But, that is the hardest life style change to give up of them all.

Colorado’s first Legal Rain Catchment System Built on Hastings Mesa

By Joanna Kanow

Last fall, one of the most litigious cases found in Colorado courts made legal the act of catching rain from the sky. What was once considered criminal in Colorado, (stealing water that was rightfully owned by someone else before it made it to earth), is now free for all residents to harness. A home being built on Hastings Mesa, just outside of Telluride, is the first in the State of Colorado to be issued a legal permit for a rain catchment system.

Kelli Petersen, currently of Mill Valley, California, is finally building her green dream home, and feels privileged to have found a spot and a community supportive of a sustainable life style. It was the 2008 MountainFilm Festival, she reflects, with its focus on water, which inspired her to realize her catchment opportunities. Petersen began working with Stewart Goforth, of Montrose Water Factory, in the fall of 2009 to design her home with a cutting edge rain catchment system. In order to design a successful system, careful calculations and intimate collaboration between architect Sundra Hines, of Hines Designs, and Eric Dickerson of DCI Construction, had to be established in order to create a successful whole house rain catchment system. They had to estimate the water needs for the household, average yearly precipitation for that particular microclimate and equate in possible drought years. Using this precipitation data, they figured the maximum surface area of catchment available to determine the amount of water that can reach storage. The two full time residents will live solely off the water harvested.

For this home, rain and snow is diverted into gutters off of the surface of the oxidizing metal roof. It is then fed into five 1,500 gallon storage tanks engineered into the foundation of the home, which is highly insulated with styrofoam blocks. The house is plumbed with non-reactive piping that will not be harmed by the acidity of rainwater, and low flow fixtures are implemented wherever possible. Finally, Stewart Goforth has designed the filtration and disinfection process that will then make the water safe for drinking without the use of chemicals. The water will be tested for bacteria per state mandates to maintain a high-standard of drinking water free of any threat of water-borne contaminates. This filtration process is designed to offer safe, friendly high quality water in a self-contained low maintenance environment.

I asked Petersen, who lives comfortably in the Bay Area and works with biotech companies studying cancer treatments, why she decided to build a green home that will actually take more effort to live in. She will have to monitor her solar and water storage systems frequently, as well as reduce her natural resource use, and even may have to hike or ski into access her front door. She responded, “It will be a very comfortable way to live, and we are willing to work at our lifestyle to make it happen.” She added, as if these sentiments were the consensus “It is currently a trend for everyone, at the moment, to think about what we can do differently to give back to society somehow. It’s what we can do right now to be more sustainable.”
When this type of thinking becomes the norm, and this kind of building is no longer considered “Alternative,” implementing sustainable designs into our built environment will then attribute to significant positive environmental shifts in the current unsustainable “norm.” And as Goforth likes to remind us, “It’s water. It’s life. Without water, that’s it.” Imagine the satisfaction now, when it rains; money saved, independence, and to those who reside in the home...a house warming gift from the sky.

Joanna Kanow is the owner of EcoSpaces: Green Building Solutions: Telluride’s source for Green Building Materials. Providing non- toxic, sustainable, renewable and recycled products to the community. EcoSpaces’ Green Design showroom is located at the Society Turn Business Center in Telluride, and also serves the greater US on www.EcoBuildingMaterials.com. Call 970-728-1973 to arrange an appointment.

Catch Your Water from the Sky

Colorado’s first Legal Rain Catchment System Built on Hastings Mesa

By Joanna Kanow

Last fall, one of the most litigious cases found in Colorado courts made legal the act of catching rain from the sky. What was once considered criminal in Colorado, (stealing water that was rightfully owned by someone else before it made it to earth), is now free for all residents to harness. A home being built on Hastings Mesa, just outside of Telluride, is the first in the State of Colorado to be issued a legal permit for a rain catchment system.

Kelli Petersen, currently of Mill Valley, California, is finally building her green dream home, and feels privileged to have found a spot and a community supportive of a sustainable life style. It was the 2008 MountainFilm Festival, she reflects, with its focus on water, which inspired her to realize her catchment opportunities. Petersen began working with Stewart Goforth, of Montrose Water Factory, in the fall of 2009 to design her home with a cutting edge rain catchment system. In order to design a successful system, careful calculations and intimate collaboration between architect Sundra Hines, of Hines Designs, and Eric Dickerson of DCI Construction, had to be established in order to create a successful whole house rain catchment system. They had to estimate the water needs for the household, average yearly precipitation for that particular microclimate and equate in possible drought years. Using this precipitation data, they figured the maximum surface area of catchment available to determine the amount of water that can reach storage. The two full time residents will live solely off the water harvested.

For this home, rain and snow is diverted into gutters off of the surface of the oxidizing metal roof. It is then fed into five 1,500 gallon storage tanks engineered into the foundation of the home, which is highly insulated with styrofoam blocks. The house is plumbed with non-reactive piping that will not be harmed by the acidity of rainwater, and low flow fixtures are implemented wherever possible. Finally, Stewart Goforth has designed the filtration and disinfection process that will then make the water safe for drinking without the use of chemicals. The water will be tested for bacteria per state mandates to maintain a high-standard of drinking water free of any threat of water-borne contaminates. This filtration process is designed to offer safe, friendly high quality water in a self-contained low maintenance environment.

I asked Petersen, who lives comfortably in the Bay Area and works with biotech companies studying cancer treatments, why she decided to build a green home that will actually take more effort to live in. She will have to monitor her solar and water storage systems frequently, as well as reduce her natural resource use, and even may have to hike or ski into access her front door. She responded, “It will be a very comfortable way to live, and we are willing to work at our lifestyle to make it happen.” She added, as if these sentiments were the consensus “It is currently a trend for everyone, at the moment, to think about what we can do differently to give back to society somehow. It’s what we can do right now to be more sustainable.”
When this type of thinking becomes the norm, and this kind of building is no longer considered “Alternative,” implementing sustainable designs into our built environment will then attribute to significant positive environmental shifts in the current unsustainable “norm.” And as Goforth likes to remind us, “It’s water. It’s life. Without water, that’s it.” Imagine the satisfaction now, when it rains; money saved, independence, and to those who reside in the home...a house warming gift from the sky.

Joanna Kanow is the owner of EcoSpaces: Green Building Solutions: Telluride’s source for Green Building Materials. Providing non- toxic, sustainable, renewable and recycled products to the community. EcoSpaces’ Green Design showroom is located at the Society Turn Business Center in Telluride, and also serves the greater US on www.EcoBuildingMaterials.com. Call 970-728-1973 to arrange an appointment.

EcoSpaces and Earth Day

Earth Day is one of my favorite holidays: it is non-denominational, not consumer driven, and isn't based around a fictitious cartoon character that I have to convince my children is real and comes in the night.

Earth Day is a real day, and should be celebrated or honored every day of the year, though, none the less, it is still quite honorable that this holiday is recognized on April 20 around the globe each year to acknowledge the vibrant, delicate, and natural resources that supports our very existence.

This year is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson democrat from Wisconsin in 1970. "Our environment was simply a non-issue in the politics of the country. All across the country, evidence of environmental degradation was appearing everywhere, and everyone noticed except the political establishment. The environmental issue simply was not to be found on the nation's political agenda. The people were concerned, but the politicians were not," reflects Senator Nelson in 1969. Ironically, this sounds disturbingly familiar to the political situation of today. This was 40 stated forty years ago, before scientific evidence of a devastating climate crisis were defined like the precarious environmental predicament we find ourselves in now.

Earth Day was born riding the wave of anti-Vietnam war protests, teach-ins, and activism, as a nationwide grassroots demonstration was organized on behalf of the environment. The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air - and they did so with spectacular exuberance. The fight has not stopped, after all of these years, and the movement is still gaining momentum. Are you yet a part of it?

Now more than ever is it imperative that the masses of people inhabiting the globe take the time to acknowledge the earth, it's natural resources that we use ever day, and our relationship to it, so that maybe we can say on earth day, 40 years from now, we turned this climate crisis around, thanks for all of you who are making the environmental difference in your life on this Earth Day and every other day of the year. Building with green building materials is one of the ways people can make a difference and make choices that help the planet. Visit http://www.EcoSpaces.net to see the latest in Green Building Materials that are healthy for you, your home, and the environment.

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