Sustainable Living

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Last week JoA was in Bellingham, Washington. Bellingham is the nation’s leader in community green power, was named the number one small city in the nation in urban progress toward sustainability, and is home to businesses, consumers, and government programs that make creating a local living economy a priority. Our webisode from the week will be posted shortly, but now we want to take the time to talk about our incredible Bellingham host, Nick Hartrich.

We called Nick the mayor, literally everyone we passed in the streets said hello to him. He introduced us to local business owners and farmers, professors, and his friends. He cooked us dinner, took us to the best spots in town, and even to Bellingham’s adult circus.

Besides being an amazing host, he is an inspiring Gen Y active citizen. Nick incorporates his beliefs in sustainability in all aspects of his life. He serves as the Green Building & Smart Growth Program Manager for Sustainable Connections and is responsible for coordinating program development to the NW Washington Branch of the Cascadia Green Building Council. Nick is uniquely talented at facilitating vibrant and valuable educational events, workshops, tours and design charrettes with the ability to creatively engage government, industry and neighborhood advocates. He votes with his dollar by only buying from local businesses and as you can see below in the video, he has re-built his house to inspire others and prove a home can be green, sustainably created, affordable, and look really cool. (check out for yourselves, locals call it The Roost)