Green in Telluride
June 4, 2008

. . . continued

A joint passion for environmental education brought green building proprietors Daniel and Joanna Kanow from the outdoor spaces of Northern California’s wilderness to the indoor spaces of their own green building showroom, EcoSpaces.

Joanna and Daniel met while guiding backpacking trips in the Trinity Alps, both having recently finished college degrees: Joanna’s in conservation resource management from the University of California, Berkley, and Daniel’s in fine arts from the University of California, Santa Cruz. The pair moved to Telluride in 1997 and took residence on Hastings Mesa in a teepee at the high elevation, off-the-grid Tomtem Farm.

“We wanted to live in a small mountain town,” says Joanna. “Telluride sealed the deal for us; we knew we loved it, and we wanted to live here.”

Today the Kanows’ classroom is their showroom, where they’re both students and teachers keeping up with advancing green materials and building methodologies, as well as consulting with architects, designers, contractors, builders and do-it-yourself homeowners.

“Right now, we are in more of a sales position and distributing green materials, but still there is a big educational component. We are still in line with education, which can have a huge impact,” says Joanna.

The Kanows’ sustainable building experience is self-taught. In 2003, they took a hiatus from teaching at Telluride schools to become their own teachers.

“We took a big risk and decided to flip some properties. We bought an old 70s-style ski crash pad condo and remodeled with green materials — we educated ourselves,” says Joanna.

EcoSpaces offers the entire spectrum in green materials: renewable cork floors, 3-Form Eco Resin glass, nontoxic carpets, nontoxic paints, recycled glass and content countertops, American Clay plaster, recycled rubber roofing tiles, recycled siding, bamboo and Forest Stewardship Council sustainably harvested woods.

We’re trying to make fundamental changes — not green building as an alternative but as a sustainable, conscious practice,” Daniel says.

The Kanows have made their own eco-friendly home — where they’ve tested and approved the gamut of green materials — down valley from Telluride with their daughters, Ayla, 4, and Shai Ann, 7 months old. They’ve recently finished a green sauna that stands among raised-bed organic gardens and composting sites.

“It’s all fallen in line together, and we’re still teaching, which we love. We feel like we’re doing exactly what we are suppose to be doing,” Joanna says.

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