Quick take:

This episode shines a light on how youth advocacy and sustainability education are creating ripple effects in the green building world. Julia Pooler shares how empowering children with the right tools and mindset today can shape the carbon-zero leaders of tomorrow.

Julia Pooler is a passionate sustainability advocate based in Wisconsin, with deep roots in youth education and environmental leadership. From her early days in Girl Scouts to founding the Carbon Zero Youth Initiative, Julia is committed to making green building concepts accessible, actionable, and inspiring — especially for young learners.

In this episode, Julia Pooler revolutionizes traditional construction approaches:

• The Challenge: Sustainability efforts in construction often overlook youth engagement.
• The Solution: Julia's Girl Scout troop created an award-winning project on low embodied carbon concrete, even presenting at Greenbuild 2022.
• ROI: Youth-driven outreach reached professionals, spotlighting embodied carbon while building leadership in the next generation.

• The Challenge: Green building principles rarely make it into early education.
• The Solution: Julia authored a children's book that demystifies green building concepts and celebrates the professionals behind them.
• ROI: Kids begin to understand and appreciate green design early, creating a lasting foundation for eco-conscious thinking.

• The Challenge: Sustainability messages can feel overwhelming or negative.
• The Solution: Julia emphasizes fun, uplifting, and community-driven resources through the Carbon Zero Youth Initiative.
• ROI: More meaningful engagement from students and professionals, driving curiosity and long-term cultural shifts in the built environment.

"There's so much power in the work green building professionals do... never underestimate the impact of sharing that passion with the next generation."

— Julia Pooler

Transform your next project with these steps:

1. This Week: Share your green building story with a young person in your life.
2. This Quarter: Volunteer to speak at a local school, troop, or youth event about sustainable design.
3. This Year: Integrate youth-friendly sustainability resources into your company's community outreach efforts.

🌿 Access full episode resources: Green Building Matters Podcast

🗒 Read the transcript here

👩🏻‍💻 Connect with Julia Pooler:

• Website: www.carbonzeroyouth.org
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/julia-pooler-b55512212

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Green Building Matters, Inc © 2026 | Good Green Fun.

Quick take:

This episode explores how data-driven design can shift the building industry toward true decarbonization. Jack Rusk, co-founder of C Scale, shares how better data at the right time empowers architects and project teams to make real progress toward carbon reduction goals.

Jack Rusk is the CEO and Co-Founder of C Scale, a company helping architects integrate carbon data earlier in the design process. With a background that bridges ecological science, hands-on construction, and architectural education, Jack brings a unique perspective to sustainable innovation in the built environment. Prior to founding C Scale, Jack ****was Director of Climate Strategy at EHDD, where he led groundbreaking work in electrification and embodied carbon analysis.

In this episode, Jack Rusk revolutionizes traditional construction approaches:

• The Challenge: Traditional focus on energy performance alone misses deeper carbon impact.
• The Solution: C Scale provides early-stage carbon modeling, considering operational and embodied emissions.
• ROI: Enables project teams to pitch and deliver on net-zero carbon targets, aligning with climate goals from day one.

• The Challenge: Architects lack access to timely, granular data during early design phases.
• The Solution: C Scale integrates carbon intelligence directly into design workflows.
• ROI: Informed material and system choices lead to lower emissions and better project alignment with decarbonization goals.

• The Challenge: Data silos prevent continuity from early planning to construction.
• The Solution: C Scale's "red thread" approach ensures data persists across design phases.
• ROI: More consistent sustainability outcomes, smoother collaboration, and increased transparency across stakeholders.

"The goal is not to have a few better projects. The goal is to change the way buildings are delivered as an industry." – Jack Rusk

Transform your next project with these steps:

1. This Week: Review your past project data — see what sustainability insights can be reused.
2. This Quarter: Incorporate early-stage carbon modeling in proposal phases.
3. This Year: Build a cross-functional team to champion data continuity from design to delivery.

🌿 Access full episode resources: https://www.gbes.com/podcast

🗒 Read the transcript here

👩🏻‍💻 Connect with Jack Rusk:

• Website: cscale.io
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackrusk/

💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe

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Green Building Matters, Inc © 2026 | Good Green Fun.

Quick take:

From decarbonization strategies to student-centric campus design, this episode with LEED Fellow Allison Wilson is a masterclass in sustainability leadership for mission-driven institutions.

Allison Wilson is a newly inducted LEED Fellow and architect at Ayers Saint Gross, where she champions sustainable, student-focused design for higher education institutions.

Based in Austin, TX, Allison works nationally on everything from lab planning to decarbonized campus housing, helping clients align their values with the right frameworks — LEED, WELL, Fitwel, and beyond.

In this episode, Allison Wilson revolutionizes traditional construction approaches:

• The Challenge: Campus projects historically siloed sustainability goals from design decisions.
• The Solution: Allison uses frameworks like LEED and WELL — whether or not clients want formal certification — to guide holistic, decarbonized design.
• ROI: Reduced operational carbon, improved indoor health, and more engaged campus communities.

• The Challenge: Talent development often takes a back seat in fast-paced firms.
• The Solution: Allison actively mentors interns and staff, building cross-disciplinary fluency across architecture, engineering, and planning.
• ROI: A resilient, empowered team capable of delivering complex, sustainable projects at scale.

• The Challenge: Material selection lacked accountability and long-term health focus.
• The Solution: Through tools like the Materials Pledge and annual reporting, Allison's teams help clients link procurement to environmental and human health.
• ROI: Reduced toxicity, enhanced lifecycle performance, and greater transparency in the supply chain.

"We all know that my building might say it's LEED, but we have to do it together."

– Allison Wilson

Transform your next project with these steps:

1. This Week: Start a running timeline of your accomplishments — it will serve you later in grant or LEED Fellow applications.
2. This Quarter: Assess your current or upcoming project against multiple frameworks (LEED, WELL, Fitwel, etc.) and map values to systems.
3. This Year: Mentor a peer or intern to pass down your knowledge and build a stronger sustainability network.

🌿 Access full episode resources: https://www.gbes.com/podcast

🗒 Read the transcript here

🔗 Connect with Allison Wilson:

• Websites: 2011.solarteam.org , asg-architects.com
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/allison-wilson-aia-leed-fellow-well-ap-lfa-8970557

💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe

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Subscribe to our FREE newsletter here: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe

Green Building Matters, Inc © 2026 | Good Green Fun.

Quick take:

From rural Peru to the skyline of Austin, Texas, Julio Carrillo shares how planners can be powerful sustainability changemakers. In this episode, learn how a LEED Fellow is pushing the green building movement beyond buildings — and into data-driven, community-scale transformation.

Julio Carrillo is a Peruvian-born architect, urban planner, and newly named LEED Fellow based in Austin, Texas. With a passion for sustainable urbanism, Julio has helped launch the Peru Green Building Council, works at Parkhill as a planner tackling large-scale urban projects, and lectures at UT Austin on AI and planning. His career is defined by actionable ideas, metric-driven innovation, and a relentless drive to move fast on meaningful change.

In this episode, Julio Carrillo revolutionizes traditional construction and planning approaches:

• The Challenge: Lack of local sustainability infrastructure and LEED awareness in Peru.
• The Solution: Co-founding the Peru GBC and launching a consulting firm.
• ROI: Grew from 1 to 100+ LEED projects in just two years; national transformation and market momentum.

• The Challenge: Cities lacked tools to track decarbonization and climate goals.
• The Solution: Built a dashboard platform inspired by Architecture 2030 to track 100+ metrics across 15+ cities.
• ROI: Expanded nationally and internationally, empowering cities to benchmark and scale climate solutions.

• The Challenge: AI is often personalized, not built for community impact.
• The Solution: Developed and now teaches a UT Austin course on AI & planning.
• ROI: Equips future planners with tools to use AI for equity, access, and sustainable development.

"Every building is a little piece of the big puzzle. We've done great with green buildings — now we need green communities."

— Julio Carrillo

Transform your next project with these steps:

1. This Week: Explore the LEED for Cities and Communities framework
2. This Quarter: Begin tracking key sustainability metrics for your city or district
3. This Year: Launch or support a data-driven sustainability initiative like the Planning Challenge

🌿 Access full episode resources: Green Building Matters Podcast

🗒 Read the transcript here

👩🏻‍💻 Connect with Julio Carrillo:

• Website: urbanammo.wordpress.com , perugbc.org.pe
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julio-carrillo-aicp-leed-fellow-83636529/

💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe

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Green Building Matters, Inc © 2025 | Good Green Fun.

Quick take:

This episode matters to green building professionals because it shines a spotlight on how grid-interactive buildings and HVAC optimization can eliminate energy waste, generate new revenue, and play a crucial role in decarbonization — right now.

Brad Pilgrim is the founder and CEO of Parity, a Series B company pioneering HVAC optimization and grid interactivity across North America. From his early days as a commercial carpenter to building a 100-million-square-foot energy optimization platform, Brad's entrepreneurial journey is driven by purpose, efficiency, and a deep love of the outdoors.

In this episode, Brad Pilgrim revolutionizes traditional construction approaches:

• The Challenge: Traditional HVAC systems run on outdated controls, often wasting energy with start-stop inefficiency.
• The Solution: Parity installs off-the-shelf hardware and proprietary software to align HVAC operations with real-time demand.
• ROI: Buildings slash energy waste, improve comfort, and unlock new revenue via demand response and grid participation.

• The Challenge: The green energy conversation often ignores the carbon debt of manufacturing renewables.
• The Solution: Focus on energy efficiency first — reducing consumption before adding generation.
• ROI: Immediate carbon impact with zero added infrastructure. Efficiency is net-zero from day one.

• The Challenge: The electrical grid is destabilized by EVs, data centers, and intermittent renewables.
• The Solution: Smart buildings that store, shift, and trade energy to balance grid load in real time.
• ROI: Reduced grid stress, avoided blackouts, and a resilient, decentralized energy ecosystem.

"The cleanest energy is the energy you don't use."

– Brad Pilgrim

Transform your next project with these steps:

1. This Week: Audit HVAC operations — look for inefficiencies and explore retrofit potential.
2. This Quarter: Assess your building's grid readiness and investigate demand response programs.
3. This Year: Implement a scalable HVAC optimization strategy that supports both decarbonization and revenue.

🌿 Access full episode resources: Green Building Matters Podcast

🗒 Read the transcript here

🔗 Connect with Brad Pilgrim:

• Website: https://www.paritygo.com/
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bradpilgrim

💚 Join the Green Building Movement: https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe

Get sustainability tips 2x a week.

Subscribe to our FREE newsletter here:

👉 https://www.greenbuilding.news/subscribe

Green Building Matters, Inc © 2025 | Good Green Fun.