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SBC Sustainability Awards 2008 |
Sustainable Business of the Year – Big Sky Brewing
Big Sky Brewing was founded on the belief that if you support your local community, the community will support you. This is seen in their donation of money, product, and time to a variety of organizations and their environmentally friendly manufacturing practices. Big Sky Brewing donates to at least 100 entities in Montana including ongoing assistance to Garden City Harvest, Missoula Urban Demonstration Project, United Way, and Missoulaavalanche.org. They also provided significant fundraising assistance for the construction of the Missoula Skate Park and Brennan’s Wave. Big Sky invested in a highly efficient heat exchange system for heating and cooling their water, which has saved huge amounts of energy. In this system, the hot water from one batch of brew is used to preheat the water for the next batch, cutting their natural gas usage by 70%. They use soy-based ink in their catalogs and do very little print marketing. They recycle almost all of their waste including spent grain, which is donated to local farmers and ranchers for animal feed, and cardboard packaging. They use local raw materials when possible, most notably using Bitterroot Valley honey in their Summer Honey Ale, their second best selling brand.
Sustainable NonProfit of the Year – Missoula Urban Demonstration Project
From its beginning in 1981 as the Down Home Project, The Missoula Urban Demonstration Project (better know as simply MUD) has been providing education and resources for Missoula residents interested in living sustainably. From its inception, MUD has operated a demonstration organic garden at their site on Phillips Street on the Northside and have been local pioneers in solar energy, green building, and sustainable practices. Their tool library has just celebrated 10 years of making gardening and home maintenance and repair tools available to all Missoula residents. Other long-term MUD projects include regular Self-Reliant Living classes, their Coffee-to-Compost service (which collect coffee grounds from local restaurants for compost production), and their Llama Bean Sale. Most recently, they have hosted their 2nd Annual Earth Day celebration at Caras Park, which drew large crowds despite the unusually cold weather, installed a grey water system at the demonstration site to reuse water from a bathtub, and started a Truck Share program so individuals who need a truck infrequently don’t have to buy and drive one of these gas guzzling vehicles to have the use of a truck.
Sustainable New Venture of the Year – First Interstate Bank and Missoula Federal Credit Union
Both of these two great Montana financial institutions are in the process of building their new facilities using LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. If they successfully maneuver the LEED certification process, these two buildings will be the first two LEED certified buildings in Missoula and will join the handful of LEED certified buildings in the state. In their pursuit of LEED certification, these projects have already produced some great results. For example, First Interstate was able to recycle approximately 97% of the materials from the building they tore down to make room for the new facility on Higgins. Similarly, Missoula Federal Credit Union has held two glass drives that diverted tons of glass from our local landfill and provided pulverized glass for the polished fly ash/glass floor for the Russell Street Branch, thus recycling both glass and fly ash, items that often can’t be recycled in Montana. Both entities are using locally sourced materials and energy efficient features in the new construction when possible. The buildings should require significantly less energy to operate than conventional buildings. Missoula Federal Credit Union estimates they will have energy savings of $20,000 per year (at current rates). First Interstate also expects to have significant energy savings.
Sustainability Advocate of the Year – Elizabeth Juda
Elizabeth Juda (Lizzi to those who know her) has a deep commitment to community building, which drives her to be involved with a wide variety of activities in the Missoula area that support the local transition to a more sustainable future. She notes that everyone makes choices in life and that she has chosen sustainability as a focus for her daily living and community involvement. From riding her bike, to reusing and recycling, to volunteering, to helping her neighbors turn their block into an eco-friendly area, Lizzi provides a great roll model for sustainability. The list of organizations that she has given her time and energy to include Wild Ground Creative and Healing Arts Center, the Missoula Food Bank, the North Missoula Community Development Corporation, Missoula Community Co-op and Market, Turning the Wheel Productions (an intergenerational dance group that operates in 7 cities around the country including Missoula and whose mission is to make dance accessible to people of all ages) and the Sustainable Business Council.
SBC Volunteers of the Year – Kaia Peterson and Kevin Dohr
Kaia and Kevin have been instrumental in writing educational copy and helping develop our two key programs. Kaia, as a member of the Education Committee, has drafted 3 fact sheets on the basics of sustainable business, which will be released later this year, and helped coordinate a pair of lectures on Green Building for the Missoula Organization of Realtors. Kevin, as a member of the Buy Local Committee, has drafted several pieces discussing the reasons to buy from locally owned businesses and locally manufactured product when possible, has given a well received presentation on the value systems of individuals and their relationship with the environment, and acts as an advisor on what environmental and social messages resonate with people of various value systems. |
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