June 18, 2026 - The Yellow Brick Road to Circular Economy Webinar

Join CLF-LA for our June webinar, in collaboration with CLF-Seattle, with speakers Kjell Anderson, Eden Brukman, and Pauline Souza. See webinar description and speaker bios below.

REGISTER here!

When:

Thurs, June 18, 2026

12:00 - 1:00pm (PT)

Location:

Online via Zoom

There will be Q&A at the end. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Webinar Description

With building materials responsible for 11% of global carbon emissions tied to embodied carbon, circular economy strategies are not nice-to-have, they’re a critical tool in the tool box. This needs to be evident in every project, big or small, in every jurisdiction and in every design action.

In this webinar, sustainability advocates from a broad background — two architecture principals and the chief sustainability officer of a county government — will share tools for informing teams, moving clients, crafting policy change, and incorporating circular economy into projects. Whether you’re working on a large, new project, small renovation, or tenant improvement, be it for civic, education, private development, or affordable housing, every project can have a circular economy story!

The speakers will delve into findings from a circular economy workshop series that focused on specific challenges to a circular built environment: eliminating waste, fighting the culture of new, questioning ownership, rethinking lifecycles, recovering resources, rallying support, and engendering collaboration across industries.

They’ll share case studies on the built environment, spotlighting innovative examples of low carbon design due to minimizing waste and maximizing reuse, as well as highlight adaptive reuse and newly-built projects that sourced recycled building materials and reclaimed furniture, illustrating the positive impact of circularity regardless of scope, region and industry.

Transitioning to a circular economy is not only about materials and processes. It’s also about community-driven decarbonization initiatives. The speakers will discuss how a regional circular economy assessment, and holding environmental justice workgroups to support circular-forward policy and program development, is including the workforce into the conversation.

Attendees will learn about best practices and strategies to enact a circular change. They’ll also be introduced to nascent policies intended to incentivize change and tools to help drive conversations with teams and clients.

Speaker Bios:

Kjell Anderson, FAIA, LEED Fellow, practices architecture and serves as a Principal and the Director of Sustainable Design at LMN Architects, working with all of LMN’s clients to set and exceed sustainable design goals. He wrote the first architect-centered book on energy modeling, co-authored AIA’s first policy statement on climate change, led the development of the Path To Zero Carbon series and has spoken extensively on energy, water, materials, and embodied carbon. He founded the Seattle Hub of the Carbon Leadership Forum, served on the AIA National Committee on the Environment and currently serves on the Washington State Building Code Council where he chairs the Energy Code Technical Advisory Group. 

Eden Brukman has focused on establishing socially and environmentally responsible solutions for people and places, for over three decades. She is the County of San Diego’s first Chief Sustainability Officer and leads the Office of Sustainability and Environmental Justice, working with the team, County colleagues, and communities across the region and beyond to ‘repair the world’ (tikkun olam). Eden has enjoyed a diverse career as an executive, consultant, advocate, educator, public servant, standards developer, licensed architect, outreach strategist, and visual communicator. Previously, Eden served as Senior Green Building Coordinator at San Francisco Environment Department; coauthored Living Building Challenge and directed its first five years of evolution and global uptake; cocreated and acted as the first Technical Director of Health Product Declaration; and contributed to the development of other industry standards including LEED, Pharos Project, Declare, and EcoDistricts. Her advocacy efforts have led to policy reform, decentralized building and community developments, and the creation of a network of local action groups in cities all over the world.

Pauline Souza has 35+ years of experience, dedicating her career to the building and advocacy of high-quality, sustainable environments that serve the education and civic sectors. As WRNS Studio’s Director of Sustainability, she is responsible for implementing sustainable design principles into all of the studio’s projects and business operations. She currently serves as a USGBC Green Schools National Chair. Committed to sharing what she has learned with the larger community, she speaks regularly at conferences and contributes often to publications focused on sustainability. All her work is in service of creating healthy, resource-efficient spaces that inspire others.