Red Barn huddles beneath green umbrella of 1% for the Planet — Community Focus

Green.

It’s the color of choice in Teton Valley, a community known for being in tune with nature and the outdoors. To keep the emphasis on the environment, photographer-turned-developer Gabe Rogel is painting the old Red Barn green to bring it into the new, environmentally friendly Teton Valley. In this case, however, the Red Barn is his new 80-acre development along the exclusive banks of the jewel-like Teton Creek in Driggs.
“It was just the ultimate spot to do the sustainable green project I wanted to,” Rogel said.
And the property is unique. The 80 acres are split roughly down the center by the turquoise waters of Teton Creek, leaving 36 private open acres for all landowners within the development.
“If I were to develop it, it would probably be very lucrative,” Rogel said. “Clustering the neighborhood and having relatively small lots is really the best thing you can do.”
When everything is finished, a five-acre community park will complement the neighborhood of mostly quarter-acre lots. The park will come complete with creek access, a network of paths, a pond for swimming in the summer and ice skating in the winter, a playground and a gazebo.
On the remaining acreage, about 70 green homes will soak up the sun. Solar panels will hopefully grace many of the finished homes, providing renewable electricity and hot water. South-facing windows will welcome the winter sun while trellises and overhangs act as a simple summer sunblock. Green home plans come standard with the purchase of any parcel of land.
“There are sort of two levels of greenness or sustainability,” Rogel said. “There’s the neighborhood level – how it’s laid out and how much land is preserved, and the individual level. The neighborhood design almost has more impact.”
Seeking to minimize Red Barn’s environmental impact, Rogel is one of 10 Idaho businesses which have signed up with 1% For The Planet, a non-profit organization dedicated to driving positive environmental change by inspiring companies to give. Donating companies in Idaho run the gamut from outdoor clothing manufacturers to photographers.
The organization was launched in 2002 by Craig Mathews, owner of Blue Ribbon Flies, and Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia.
“I have taken a lot of photos for Patagonia,” Rogel said. “I’ve always looked up to [Chouinard’s] pioneering – climbing, Patagonia, and 1% For The Planet. It’s not an over-profitable neighborhood, but I still felt like donating one percent was just the thing to do.”
As a member business of 1% For The Planet, Rogel has agreed to donate one percent of all sales to non-profit environmental organizations, which are often in dire need of funding.
At this point, Rogel said he is looking forward to the time when he can donate more.
“Right now, I’m just spending a lot of money,” he said. “You sign a legal seven- or eight-page contract to do this. It’s pretty structured and official.
“When you sign that contract, you’re committing to give one percent of your sales no matter what else happens. The economy could crash – like it has – and you’re still committing to donating one percent of your sales – not profits. It’s a bigger commitment.”
The bigger question may be whether 1 percent is enough. With many non-profit environmental organizations nearing seven figures in operating expenses, how much can one percent really help?
Anna Lindstedt, development director for Friends of the Teton River, a grant receiver from 1% For The Planet, said about 60 percent of their $600,000 budget comes through the government, whether on a local or federal level. Most of the remaining 40 percent comes from private individuals and membership dues.
In contrast, Friends of the Teton River has a $6,000 grant heading their way from 1% For The Planet this year. That translates to – let’s see – 1 percent of their operating budget.
Though this may not be a typical grant-to-operating ratio, one has to wonder how much good the money does.
“It’s not funding an idea, but it’s really the catalyst funding to get this rolling,” Linstedt said. “It’s the parts and pieces that people are willing to fund that make the program come together as a whole. It seems like a drop in the bucket, but it’s really not a drop in the bucket.”
With their 1 percent from 1%, Lindstedt said they plan to facilitate a stakeholder group which will be working on a water management plan for irrigation, new residents and stream flow on Trail Creek in Teton Valley. The money they receive will provide a base on which to build, the capital on which to get the stakeholders organized and mobilized.
So maybe that “one measly percent” can help.
“We’ve got a lot of projects that can be highly impacted by a small amount of money and go really far,” Lindstedt said.
A strength of 1% For The Planet is the ability to benefit local organizations. Member organizations pay membership dues on a sliding scale. Of the required donation, 20 percent goes to 1% For The Planet, the remaining 80 percent is given directly to any of the receiving non-profit organizations that have qualified through the simple application process that only requires a company to be an environmentally focused 501(c)(3) organization.
“Obviously it’s localized to our area so that’s why we got involved,” Lindstedt said. “They’re looking for forward-thinking innovative projects that go beyond the grant period.”
What if a desirable non-profit’s not on the list? No problem. 1% encourages member businesses to invite their desired recipients to join the fold. Currently, 934 companies donate through 1% for the Planet to 1,621 environmental organizations worldwide.
Yellowstone Business Partnership was one of these invitees, and executive director Jan Brown said she wonders if 1% for the Planet is an unnecessary middle man. Her organization had already been receiving donations from the company that invited them in. Hence, it became an extra step in the giving process, perhaps making their received donation less than it could have been otherwise.
“I’m not saying it’s the wrong thing to do,” Brown said. “Businesses can help contribute in many different ways, 1% is one of them.”
As an organization dedicated to helping other regional businesses grow, Brown has had other business owners approach her to ask if signing up for 1% is a good thing.
“If there’s an assumption that businesses can say that philanthropy can be reached through this program, that’s a good thing,” Brown said. “I am saying that businesses do have a choice.”
These choices involve both philanthropic choices and personal accountability. Brown said if a business can reduce its own footprint by reducing energy use, reducing waste stream and increasing sustainability, they are already on the right track to benefitting the environment.
“Straight philanthropy might not achieve that,” she said.
Of Yellowstone Business Partnership’s $619,000 total budget, only about $2,500, or less than half a percent, comes from 1% For The Planet. This year, they will use their grant to help pay for instructors who encourage sustainable business practices as part of their flagship UnCommon Sense program.
The answer to why companies don’t just bypass 1% and donate on their own is in one word: visibility. Unlike the proverbial widow silently casting her last two mites, 1% For The Planet offers a visible way to give. Indirect promotion and consumer awareness of a company’s goals come with the 1% package.
“As a small company, we wanted to focus on local work,” said Noah Bryan, president of the outdoor apparel company Core Concepts. “It tied in naturally with our values. It was just kind of a natural fit. The structure of 1% has a clear message to consumer: this is a value we hold.
“This is an age of sound bytes and short attention spans. We want people to know where we stand in a very concise message. It’s an added benefit to something we would have done anyway.”
Bryan said their donations through 1% For The Planet represent a small proportion of what they do for the environment. He said decisions about sourcing and fabric material have an impact alongside their surplus donations that aren’t routed through 1% for the Planet. This strategy allows both visibility and anonymity in their environmental efforts.
Back in Driggs, it will be a couple years before Red Barn developer Gabe Rogel will see what his 1 percent can do. His vision for an off-the-grid sustainable community is part of his own commitment to help the environment he loves to photograph.
Growing up camping and fishing with his family was a sound basis for his love of nature and photography. With that in mind, he spent three years looking for his dream property and decided the only way to attain it would be to develop it himself, leaving part of the land for he and his wife. Now his green development is turning heads.
“My goal is to … catch the eye of other developers,” Rogel said. “I’m trying to keep the natural world just that – natural and beautiful.”
Years of doubting the developer’s cause wound up with him smack dab in the middle of it, albeit in a greener way than most.
“This was my naïve and somewhat ignorant mindset: any development is a bad development,” he said. “Devel-opment is always going to happen; it’s just a matter of how it’s done.”