Committee on the Environment

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ALBION DISTRICT LIBRARY BY PERKINS + WILL IS A 2018 COTE TOP TEN RECIPIENT. IMAGE: DOUBLESPACE PHOTOGRAPHY

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Who we are

The Committee on the Environment (COTE®) is an AIA Knowledge Community working for architects, allied professionals, and the public to achieve climate action and climate justice through design. We believe that design excellence is the foundation of a healthy, sustainable, and equitable future. Our work promotes design strategies that empower all AIA members to realize the best social and environmental outcomes with the clients and the communities they serve.

Enjoy our latest on COTE news (and follow us on X and LinkedIn). 

To learn about the Framework for Design Excellence (formerly the COTE Top Ten Measures), click here.

Check out COTE's history and timeline. 

Starting a local COTE or sustainability group and need some guidance? Check out the AIA COTE Network Resources here.

A big thank you to our 2024 sponsors: 
Founding sponsors: Building Green
Premier sponsors: Sherwin-Williams
Sustaining sponsors: GAF Roofing, Milliken, Andersen Windows,
BlueScope Buildings
Green sponsors: EPIC Metals
Allied sponsors: TLC Engineering, Sierra Pacific Windows

  • 1.  Good Wood Webinar

    Posted 11-07-2019 02:50 PM

    I highly recommend this webinar. As we look to replace concrete and steel with wood it is critical that we use the wood that actually sequesters more carbon than it emits. All wood is not equal.
    Larry Strain


    Sierra Club's Forest and Climate Team: Good Wood Webinar

    A WEBINAR PRESENTED BY SIERRA CLUB'S FORESTS & CLIMATE TEAM

    November 14, 2019 from noon to 1 PM Pacific Time

    This program explains why increased forest protection and improved
    stewardship are key to addressing the climate crisis and reducing the
    embodied carbon of wood products - and how the green building
    movement can help.

    Topics include:
    • Forests' role in combatting climate change
    • Is increased wood use and mass timber construction beneficial or detrimental?
    • Forest carbon: what it is, how it works and why it determines the real carbon footprint of wood products
    • Climate-friendlier forestry and practical wood procurement strategies to promote it
    • Illegally logged and traded wood products: the climate connection + a new and innovative approach to avoiding illegal wood in building construction

    About the Presenters:

    For 25 years, Jason Grant has been a leader in the
    sustainable forestry and green building movements.
    He is the principal of Jason Grant Consulting and
    works with companies and NGOs on policy,
    advocacy, marketing, training and compliance. A
    LEED AP BD+C, Jason is recognized as an expert
    in ecological forest products, forest certification and
    forest legality. Early in his career, he co-founded
    EcoTimber, one of the first companies in the world
    to bring to market products from forests certified to
    the stringent environmental and social standards of the Forest Stewardship
    Council (FSC). He is co-chair of the Sierra Club's Forests & Climate Team and
    helps lead the Club's efforts to elevate forests as a climate solution while
    promoting leadership and challenging greenwashing in the forest products
    and building sectors. He also represents Sierra Club on the board of the US
    office of the FSC.

    Dr. Dominick A. DellaSala is President and Chief
    Scientist of the Geos Institute in Ashland, Oregon and
    former President of the Society for Conservation
    Biology, North America Section. He is an internationally
    renowned author of over 200 science papers on forest
    and fire ecology, conservation biology, endangered
    species management, and landscape ecology.
    Dominick has given plenary and keynote talks ranging
    from academic conferences to the United Nations Earth
    Summit. Dominick is currently on Oregon's Global
    Warming Commission Subcommittee on Forest Carbon and is editor of
    numerous scientific journals and publications. His book "Temperate and
    Boreal Rainforests of the World: Ecology and Conservation" received an
    academic excellence award from Choice magazine, one of the nation's top
    book review journals.


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    Lawrence Strain FAIA
    Siegel & Strain Architects
    Emeryville CA
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