A progressive model of sustainability is the foundation for success at the Southern Pine Company of Georgia. From multimillion dollar projects to routine everyday tasks, every effort to minimize waste and maximize the collective benefits are earnestly taken. This past year was a whirlwind of historical preservation, community empowerment, and environmental activism, among other things. Deemed “Savannah’s sustainability headquarters” by an October article in Connect Savannah, the Southern Pine Company has received praise for being a hub of environmentally conscious business practices and relationships, serving as “a nexus for an environmentally conscious economic model that’s creating real jobs and an engaged community” (Lebos, J.L. Savannah’s Sustainability Headquarters, Connect Savannah, October 2013). For someone who stumbled into this multi-purpose power house of productivity at the close of such an eventful year, diving head first into the many personalities that make up this mindful microcosm was the only option for grasping the evolutionary growth that has taken place here in the past year. Most fortunately, one of the first voices I heard as an insatiably curious newcomer here was that of Albert George, founder of the Georgia Green Economy Summit that was hosted this past year in Savannah with its reception taking place in the building and courtyard of Southern Pine Co. The event, focused on innovative sustainability with a theme question of, “What will it take for the Coastal Empire to become the Silicon Marsh?” was heavily embraced by all inhabitants of the shared courtyard behind Southern Pine and has been expressed as the highlight of their year. The summit provided publicity and exposure for Southern Pine’s neighboring business STEAM, a hand print manufacturing company, that was able to share and implement their vision of connecting and networking with active members of society interested in promoting creativity. Members of PERC Coffee Roasters, a company housed behind Southern Pine, also felt the positive effects of the conscious gathering brought to the courtyard, having the chance to mingle with prominent visionaries and experience the level of collective enlightenment shared by those in attendance. Though the summit itself took place in September, founder, Albert George has stuck around and carved out a nook of his own at this company in order to promote what he calls “a local and national example of economic development, poverty reduction, and urban redevelopment”. The goal is to raise awareness of the level of championship demonstrated by the companies that share the brick courtyard of the Southern Pine Company that if embraced by the city could potentially be the model of successful sustainability for Savannah and beyond. Through this past year’s summit, at which Laura Turner Seydel was an honored guest, George made every effort to connect like-minded people and organizations in an attempt to gain local, national, and global support for the transformative practices taking place at Southern Pine Co. that are essential to the preservation of our community in historical, economic and environmental terms. This multi-faceted approach to sustainability was heavily embraced by Seydel, a national environmental activist, who in turn invited the owners of Southern Pine Co. to this year’s Captain Planet Foundation Benefit Gala, a December benefit for the Captain Planet Foundation of which she chairs whose mission is, “to give the next generation of environmental stewards an active understanding and love for the natural world in which they live” (captainplanetfoundation.org). Through this collaboration Southern Pine Co. was also able to donate one of their home-crafted tables made of salvaged materials including wood pulled from the Savannah River dating back to 1871, and showcase the work of their company at what has has been called one of the top galas in Atlanta, able to raise millions of dollars in a single night to benefit children and the environment on a global scale. Scaling back from the global level of activism back to the local community, Southern Pine Co. has facilitated the space for multiple projects and organizations to manifest and develop, aiding Savannah in the promotion of local culture, business, employment, and sustainability. One of the most thriving new additions to the shared haven that makes up the courtyard of Southern Pine Co. is PERC Coffee Roasters, a new organic coffee company that moved onto the block in early September. The space was heavily sought after by PERC owner Phillip Brown in his quest for a larger space to house his beloved robust roasters. Talking with PERC crew member, Spencer Perez, revealed that it wasn’t only the available space that drew them to the building behind the Southern Pine Company. There were good vibes and lots of supportive energy coming from owner and facilitator of the block at E.35th and East Broad, Ramsey Khalidi. In talking with Khalidi it was clear to members of PERC that a relationship with him and the space behind Southern Pine Co. would be a mutually beneficial one. Perez shares that the best thing about PERC becoming a member of the family of businesses sharing Southern Pine’s courtyard is the perpetual collaboration and celebration of sustainable business practices and the ability the space here has to bring people together. With PERC having plenty of space to roast premium organic coffee, and the Southern Pine Company having an unlimited supply of it in the office, it’s a no doubt, win-win relationship. Next to PERC is an up and coming organic greenhouse, of which efforts for have been led by Emergent Structures, a non-profit organization also in the business of recycling and reusing reclaimed building materials, in collaboration with Design for Ability, another non-profit which plans to utilize the greenhouse as an agricultural training center for local special needs teenagers. The greenhouse project, which had its grand opening in early October, is said by Ramsey Khalidi, owner of Southern Pine Co., to be a prime example of what happens here in terms of job placement programs for community members, and re-empowering the local neighborhood through sustainable practices. Also hosted in Southern Pine Co.’s courtyard is the recently founded Savannah Bazaar. A free event first hosted this past summer and quickly gaining momentum, it is a monthly marketplace for local artists and crafters to display and vend their hand made treasures and to share knowledge and awareness of and in the local community. The Bazaar serves as a meeting place for people to gather and connect with each other and the surrounding businesses in the name of a shared desire for local growth and collaboration of the diverse talents of the members of this community. For Southern Pine Co. 2013 was a formative year of starting and cultivating relationships with local organizations with a progressive framework, like Maven Makers, whose vision is articulated as, “working to establish a collaborative work space with the goal of creating a community of knowledge, design, and, creativity” (mavenmakers.org). After a chance meeting between founders of the organization and Khalidi, Maven Makers was able to host its first community building workshop in the Southern Pine Company’s meeting room this December. The task was to design and build a series of work benches for the Savannah Bicycle Campaign whose plan is to utilize the benches to repurpose recycled bicycles and donate them to low income members of the local community. Projects such as this are the epitome of what Southern Pine Company is trying to implement in Savannah, and the foundation of reclaiming, repurposing, and recycling is something hoped to be extrapolated from local efforts to global. Southern Pine Company took on a number of preservation and real estate development projects in 2013 including the deconstruction and reconstruction of recently acquired 100 Old West Lathrop, the old Savannah Paint building. The end goal is to utilize the redesigned building to be a shared work environment for businesses and individuals of like minds who will appropriately use the repurposed work space sustainably. The space is going to be designed and developed with reclaimed shipping containers, adaptively reused as office and living spaces. This new venture has secured the name of “Pandora’s Green Modular Construction” and is planned to be implemented in full force in 2014. In 2013 Southern Pine Company left their mark of environmental consciousness on a great number of Savannah’s home grown projects and business ventures including aiding in renovations and construction developments at the Inns at Ellis Square, the Cotton Sail Hotel, The Tree House, 1 West Victory, Drayton Towers, and Savannah State University’s Adams & Morgan Hall. The company also had the opportunity to use reclaimed wood to build one of Savannah Slow Ride’s 15-person bicycles after helping the company relocate their business this past year, as well as building a 12-foot table and partition wall for our friends at Back In The Day Bakery, and was also able to provide wood from reclaimed bowling alley lanes for the table tops at Savannah’s new Whole Foods store. Looking back at everything that Southern Pine Company was able to get involved with this past year paints a picture of the solid yet diverse desire for sustainability intrinsic in the drive behind all that the company does. Gaining attention from the likes of TV’s Ty Pennington and even Vice President Joe Biden, the Southern Pine Company is perpetually moving forward in its efforts to recycle, reuse, and repurpose as much of the world as possible. From the corner of E.35th and E. Broad in the low country of Savannah, efforts to rescue the world from total landfill domination are in constant practice and take precedence in all that the company takes part in. From restoring century old buildings and housing sustainable businesses, to bagging saw dust, and recycling the tin foil from yesterday’s lunch, the minds behind the Southern Pine Company have been champions of environmental sustainability in 2013 and will continue to be leaders in “greening” the community in 2014.