Raising a New Generation of Green Building Advocates with Julia Pooler
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
Release Date: 01/21/2026
Building Communities That Last: Human Flourishing, Waste Audits, & the Future of Sustainability with Brian Bollinger
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Sustainability isn't just about reducing carbon or earning certifications — it's about creating places where people can thrive. In this episode, Brian Bollinger shares how green building, technology, AI, waste reduction, and thoughtful community design all work together to create healthier buildings, stronger businesses, and more resilient communities. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Brian Bollinger is a sustainability strategist, entrepreneur, and connector passionate about helping organizations build healthier, more efficient, and more...
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Carbon Neutral Concrete Starts with Collaboration: Education, Innovation & Building a More Resilient Future with Kerry Sutton
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
✅ The Green Impact Report Quick Take: Concrete is responsible for building nearly every community on earth—and it's also one of the biggest opportunities to reduce embodied carbon. In this episode, Kerry Sutton explains why the future isn't about finding one miracle material. It's about educating the entire industry, embracing innovation responsibly, and collaborating across every stakeholder to create resilient, lower-carbon infrastructure that lasts for generations. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Kerry Sutton, PE, LEED AP is the Executive Director of NEU: An ACI...
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Beyond Buildings: Scaling Climate Action Across the Built Environment with Vincent Martinez
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
💚 The Green Impact Report Quick take: The next chapter of sustainability isn't about making individual buildings slightly better — it's about redesigning entire communities. Vincent Martinez explains why the future of decarbonization depends on collaboration, adaptive reuse, electrification, and thinking beyond the building itself. 🫶 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Vincent Martinez is the President & CEO of Architecture 2030, where he has spent nearly two decades helping shape the global movement toward a carbon-neutral built environment. From launching...
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Sustainability Is Woven In, Not Handed Out: Making Green Building the Default with Dave Hubka
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
✅ The Green Impact Report Quick take: Dave Hubka has spent 20+ years turning "up to code" into "why would we settle for that?" — and his approach of building sustainability directly into the spec (instead of waiting for a client to ask) is a playbook every green building professional can steal. 🤝 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Dave Hubka is the Sustainability Practice Leader at EUA, where he lights the way for the firm's team to create healthier buildings for clients and the environment. His work starts with listening — collaborating closely with clients to uncover...
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Ken Rhee on Turning BIM Data Into a Living, Breathing Digital Twin
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: Only 3% of people on a building project can actually open a BIM file — Ken Rhee is fixing that, and using AI and sensors to turn "as-built" data into real-time building intelligence that pays off in energy, insurance, and asset value. 🤩 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Ken Rhee Joined VIM Build in Atlanta, GA as President at the beginning of January, 2026. Co-founded Integral VIM, a BIM consulting company based in Shanghai in 2021, together with Arol Wolford ; currently developing VXBOS, a VIM-based 3D building operating software....
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Leading with Influence: FAIA, LEED Fellow Kirk Teske on Sustainability, Design Leadership, and Protecting What Matters
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: After 42 years at HKS, Kirk Teske reflects on a career that helped shape sustainable design at scale. From leading one of the earliest LEED pilot projects to influencing generations of architects, Kirk shares why responsible design, stakeholder engagement, and courageous leadership remain the foundation of a better built environment. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Kirk Teske is a retired architect, LEED Fellow, and former Global Director at HKS, where he spent more than four decades helping transform one of the world's leading design...
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Special Episode: Building Skema.ai - Why AI-Native Building Design Is About to Change Everything with Charlie Cichetti, Robin Bienfait & Jim Grady
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick Take: What happens when a LEED Fellow entrepreneur, a Fortune 500 technology executive (turn investor), and a startup growth strategist sit down to discuss the future of building design? You get an inside look at how AI is reshaping architecture, construction, ownership, and the economics of the built environment. In this special episode, Charlie Cichetti, Robin Bienfait, and Jim Grady explore why the next generation of buildings won't be designed from scratch — they'll be built from intelligence. 🎓 Meet the Innovators Charlie Cichetti Co-Founder &...
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AI, Digital Infrastructure, & the Future of Decarbonization: Anya Eydman on Building Trust in the Energy Transition
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: AI, data centers, and digital infrastructure are transforming the built environment faster than most of us realize. In this episode, Anya Eydman explains why the future of decarbonization isn't just about technology—it's about trust, education, community engagement, and helping buildings become active participants in a cleaner, more resilient energy ecosystem. 🎓 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion **Anya Eydman is a strategic advisor and community advocate working at the intersection of energy infrastructure, grid assets, and...
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Designing Schools That Heal, Inspire, and Perform Better: Human-Centered Sustainable Design with Bob Morris
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
🎯 The Green Impact Report Quick take: What happens when sustainability stops being about buzzwords — and starts being about healthier kids, stronger schools, and lower operational costs? Architect Bob Morris breaks down how net-zero schools, biophilic design, and human-centered architecture are reshaping the future of education. 🙋 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion **Bob is an architect who specializes in the planning and design of K12 schools for EUA, a multi-disciplinary design firm with five office locations in Wisconsin, Colorado, and Georgia. Architecture,...
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From LEED to Decarbonization: Tanya Eagle's Blueprint for the Future of Sustainable Buildings
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
♻️ The Green Impact Report Quick take: Tanya Eagle has spent her career proving that sustainability isn’t a “nice to have” — it’s a smarter way to design, operate, and future-proof buildings. In this episode, the LEED Fellow and JLL sustainability leader shares why the future of green building is bigger than certifications and how decarbonization, wellness, resilience, and material health are converging into one holistic strategy. 🙋 Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion With over sixteen years of experience leading sustainable design programs, Tanya is dedicated...
info_outlineThe Green Impact Report 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.
Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion
Julia Pooler is the executive director of the Carbon Zero Youth Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to educational outreach towards a sustainable built environment. She is also the author of Buildy Green, it Takes a Team! A Better Building Story, a children's book that celebrates the work of green building and sustainable materials professionals and introduces green building ideas through simple, accessible language and vibrant illustrations.
She became involved in green building as a Girl Scout Leader supporting a troop-level national outreach campaign about embodied carbon and low-carbon building materials. Drawing on lessons learned from that project, Julia is working to support community demand for greener building materials and practices through outreach resources and youth engagement.
Breaking Ground on Better Building
In this episode, Julia Pooler revolutionizes traditional construction approaches:
Key Insight #1: Elevating Youth as Catalysts for Carbon Awareness
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.
Key Insight #2: Turning Green Buildings into Educational Tools
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.
Key Insight #3: Building a Movement with Joy and Accessibility
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.
Sustainable Soundbite
Your Green Building Action Plan
Transform your next project with these steps:
This Week: Share your green building story with a young person in your life.
This Quarter: Volunteer to speak at a local school, troop, or youth event about sustainable design.
This Year: Integrate youth-friendly sustainability resources into your company’s community outreach efforts.
Connect & Learn More
🌿 Access full episode resources: Green Building Matters Podcast
💚Join the Green Building Movement
📄 Read the transcript: HERE
🔗 Connect with Julia Pooler:
Carbon Zero Youth Initiative
Buildy Green, It Takes a Team! A Better Building Story
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