The Good Earth Plant Company living wall at the SDGE Energy Innovation Center is one of our favorite projects. See it at the USGBC Green Building Expo on September 22.

One of the silver linings of our current drought in San Diego is that it has gotten more people thinking about sustainability and the big picture issues surrounding our use of water and other natural resources. This is a great thing! Thinking leads to talking, and talking leads to doing something. The more we start integrating cutting edge sustainability strategies into San Diego’s buildings, homes, and communities, the more we can improve our well-being.

This is something I write about a lot on this blog. In September, I’ll get a chance to talk about it at the third annual San Diego Green Building Conference on Saturday, September 22 at the SDG&E Energy Innovation Center. I’ll be speaking with Karen Contreras of Urban Plantations about one of my new passions: foodscaping. Karen is a leader in San Diego’s urban farming movement. I wrote about foodscaping on the blog in July.

Thanks to the U.S. Green Building Council in San Diego for putting together such a great program on September 22. See you there!

I won’t be the only speaker, of course. The keynote speaker is Mark Mykleby, Colonel, United States Marine Corps (Ret.), who is now the co-director of the Strategic Innovation Lab at Case Western Reserve University. How did a Marine Corps officer become a sustainability advocate? I can’t wait to find out.

There is a great lineup for this event. It’s open to the public, and if you can find time in your schedule, I guarantee you’ll come away inspired to become part of the sustainability movement in our community. Visit the U.S. Green Building Council’s event page for details and to register.

Karen and I would love to see you there. You can also see one of my favorite living wall projects at the SDG&E Energy Innovation Center, which is one of only 10 buildings in the world to achieve double LEED Platinum® certification.