Natural Step USA merges with Cascadia Green Building Council
Submitted by Anouk Bertner on January 12, 2011 - 10:45am.
The Portland-based nonprofit Natural Step USA announced Tuesday that it merged with the Cascadia Green Building Council. The two groups will continue their existing operations and will retain their public identities under a unified leadership and infrastructure.
"It made some sense in part because we've had close alignment with their leadership in the past," said Regina Hauser, who will continue as director of Natural Step USA, which will become a subsidiary of Cascadia GBC.
Hauser said the missions of the two organization are closely related, connecting the built environment with business behavior.
The Natural Step USA was formed in 1997 and has served on the forefront of the movement of integrating sustainability in business. The original Natural Step was formed in Sweden by a doctor, Karl-Henrik Robèrt. The Portland office was the first U.S. licensee of the Natural Step organization. The license will be extended to the merged organization.
Recent financial difficulties at The Natural Step led to a downsizing of the staff from five people to three over the past year. Hauser said the merger with Cascadia GBC has been in the works for several months.
"It was time for a change," Hauser said.
The Cascadia Green Building Council, which has offices in Portland, Seattle, British Columbia and Alaska, is a regional nonprofit focused on green building practices. Its International Living Building Institute subsidiary is the issuer of the Living Building Challenge.
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