About Us
Acclaim | Board
of Directors | Our Team | Speaking
One Planet DC is an umbrella initiative for the One Planet
Communities and One Planet City programs in Washington, DC
managed by BioRegional
North America, and operating as a project of the Tides
Center with the generous support of philanthropists Roger
and Vicki Sant of the Summit
Fund of Washington.
BioRegional is an independent, entrepreneurial environmental
organization with world headquarters in London, UK (registered
charity no.1041486), and North American offices in Washington
DC and the Canadian capital of Ottawa. BioRegional operates
in North America as a Canadian non-profit and in the USA as
a project of the Tides Center, which sponsors nearly 200 social
change projects nationwide.
BioRegional has been creating award-winning, commercially-viable
sustainability solutions since 1994, pursuing a mission to
create products and services which meet more of our everyday
needs from local renewable and waste resources, to enable
living within our fair share of Earth's resources. Our goals
in the US are to create models for households, neighborhoods,
and cities that make an 80% reduction in ecological footprint
convenient for mainstream Americans, creating concrete examples
for marketplace and policy transformation.
Internationally, BioRegional is behind the Sustainability
Action Plans for such projects as the $15bn Masdar City project
in the United Arab Emirates and the 6,000-unit Mata de Sesimbra
project in Portugal. In 2007 BioRegional created its first
One Planet Community partnership at California's $1bn Sonoma
Mountain Village project, implementing their Sustainability
Action Plan and a neighborhood-wide sustainable lifestyles
program. Centered on a town square that adaptively reuses
700,000 square feet of light industrial buildings, the 1900-unit
project is already solar-powered by a 1.14MW array. Residents
at Sonoma Mountain Village will reduce their total direct
carbon emissions by 83%.
BioRegional North America's board of
directors includes green building pioneers, architects,
and developers.
BioRegional have recently released our Annual
Report for 2006-2007.
What people are saying about us
Developers
“It's time to stop planning for energy efficiency and
start planning for zero impact. It's time to move past 'green'
and embrace truly sustainable development. One Planet Communities
has given us the framework to do just that.”
Geof Syphers, Chief Sustainability Officer, CODDING ENTERPRISES
“Our partnership with BioRegional over the last 3 years
has helped us to deliver high quality homes and lifestyle
packages for residents and visitors to our developments. Sustainable
solutions such as fossil fuel-free transport, ecosystem restoration
and new building technologies are essential to meeting this
target, and to Pelicano's success in the market place. BioRegional
solutions promoting the use of local resources, sustainable
forestry, zero carbon products and zero waste strategies are
as relevant to companies in Portugal as they are in the UK.”
Joaquim Mendes Duarte, CEO, PELICANO
“Masdar City will question conventional patterns of
urban development, and set new benchmarks for sustainability
and green design. We are pleased to be able to work with One
Planet Communities to make our vision a reality.”
Dr. Sultan al Jaber, CEO, THE MASDAR INITIATIVE
“We strongly belive that the One Planet Principles provide
an excellent framework for sustainability in development and
community projects. We draw up Sustainability Action Plans
for each project which utilise the principles to record targets
and delivery mechanisms. We find One Planet Communities to
be an extremely useful and powerful communications tool for
expressing sustainability to a variety of audiences. Furthermore,
in many ways, One planet Communities provides an essential
common language of sustainability in a world increasingly
aware of the environmental, social, and economic challenges
we face in the near future.”
Pete Halsall, Managing Director, BIOREGIONAL QUINTAIN LTD.
World Environmental Leaders
“One Planet Communities will allow us to make a difference
on a scale - and with the urgency - that all of us now know
is absolutely necessary. One Planet Communities offers us
a very simple choice: The next time we choose a place to live,
we can choose one that invests in the sustainability of our
planet.”
Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UNEP
“The prestigious international program of One Planet
Communities solves the climate change conundrum of new development.
Instead of just trying to eke out more energy efficiency,
it starts from the basic principle of zero greenhouse gas
emissions from buildings and a massive 82% reduction from
transit.”
Ken Smokoska, Clean Energy Chair, SIERRA CLUB CALIFORNIA
“Some people talk about sustainable development - others
just get out there and do it! BioRegional does just that,
coming up with inspiring but practical initiatives that address
climate change, waste reduction and the all important challenge
of regenerating local communities and economies sustainably.
We've all got to learn from Bioregional - a small organisation
dealing in very big ideas.”
Jonathon Porritt, Chairman, UK SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
COMMISSION
“The entrepreneurial spirit of BioRegional has catalysed
real and lasting examples of how we can meet our needs in
a sustainable way and play fair with the developing world.
This is the new mainstream and not an alternative lifestyle.”
Anita Roddick, Founder, THE BODY SHOP
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