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Department of Ecology News Release - February 15, 2007
07-032
TACOMA - One of Washington's earliest proponents of green building has received the state's highest environmental award from the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology).
Dale Anderson, a principal at Tacoma's BCRA Design, received the Environmental Excellence Award during this morning's meeting of the Tacoma/Olympia branch of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council.
The award recognizes individuals, businesses and organizations that have shown leadership, innovation or extraordinary service in protecting, improving or cleaning up the environment.
"What really impressed us at Ecology is the fact that Dale was among the first in Washington state to really get green building and sustainable design. And he's been committed to spreading the word," said Polly Zehm, deputy director for Ecology.
An architect with more than 30 years of experience, Anderson has been a pioneer and a leader in Washington's green building movement. He first began learning about the concepts of sustainability in college. As his professional career progressed, he worked extensively with many American Indian groups and developed a great respect for their reverence of the natural environment and seamless integration of sustainability in their culture.
Anderson brings these core design values to others in the state by leading workshops and seminars for architects, engineers and design professionals about the importance of integrating sustainability into the design and function of a building.
He has also given hundreds of hours of his time as chair of the Tacoma/Olympia branch of the Cascadia Region Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. The council developed and administers the LEED(tm) (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building certification system.
He was among the first in Washington to achieve LEED accreditation and third in the nation to be certified as a National Sustainable Building Advisor.
Anderson says the concepts of sustainable design plays a valuable role in preserving the environment and our way of life.
"Our earth and natural resources have reached a critical point where these concepts must become a way of life for every person on the planet," he said. "Many people predict that we're too late, but even one small step by one person can make a difference to prolong that critical conflict from occurring. If everyone were to take those small steps we could change our entire planet's fragile condition for the better."
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Contact: Kim Schmanke, public information manager, 360-407-6239
For more information: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/environmental_excellence.htm
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
