Dear Allan Baer

NATIONAL TOWN MEETING FOR A SUSTAINABLE AMERICA

TO: National Planning Committee Members
FROM: Ken Patterson, NTM Director
DATE: March 8,1999

RE: National Planning Committee Meeting, Wednesday, March 10, 1999

As of this Monday, we have 40 business days to get ready for what will be the largest sustainability event in the United States: The National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America!!! With a final push from each of us, the NTM is sure to be a grand success.

We need your help to make these next 40 days count! In your briefing materials (below) you will find information on how the program and exhibits are shaping up, ways in which the NTM will exemplify sustainable practices, and how we are getting the word out to ensure broad participation. Please review these materials to find out how you can provide the most effective support during this final stage.

Now is the time we need you to double your efforts on behalf of this event. Please be prepared to take away specific action items on ways to widely distribute the brochure, increase the number of building blocks generated by the event, and identify additional concurrent events. If you are unable to attend, please join us via teleconference by dialing 301-903-6913. Please find further details below.

Let's make these final 40 days count!! Thank you and I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday.

*** Please note: The press conference originally scheduled for Wednesday afternoon has been delayed for one week.

LOGISTICS

DATE: March 10, 1999
TIME: 10:30 to 12:30
PLACE: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's, 451 7th Street, Washington, D.C., in the Departmental Conference Room.

DIRECTIONS FROM METRO: L=Enfant Plaza Metro Station, on the yellow and green lines. Go up the escalators to the L=Enfant Plaza exit and turn left. The HUD building will be in front of you. Walk over to the building and turn left in order to walk to the front entrance. Security will have your name on an NPC attendance list. Please allow a few minutes for security clearance.

TELECONFERENCE CALL NUMBER: 301-903-6913

AGENDA

I Welcome and Opening Remarks Ray Anderson, Chairman, President and CEO, Interface Inc., NTM Co-Chair Peter Robertson, Acting Deputy Director of the U.S. EPA

II Program Overview and Host Committee projects
III Exhibit Hall
IV Communications Plan
V Shallow Footprints: How the NTM is walking the talk
VI Building Blocks for 2000 Campaign
VII Affiliated Events
VIII Outreach
IX Open Discussion / Q&A

BRIEFING MATERIALS

PROGRAM UPDATE
Plenary Speakers & Sessions: A draft program will be e-mailed before Wednesday and will also be provided as a handout at the meeting; it remains a "draft". We are fortunate to have a number of excellent speakers on the NTM program, and additional speakers are being confirmed daily. Looking across the entire slate, including plenary keynoters and roundtable participants, we have tried to achieve a balance across issues, types of organizations, and segments of our country's diverse population. The most recent addition is Alexine Clement Jackson, National President of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). Ms. Jackson will be featured on the Monday, May 3rd morning plenary panel. All other plenary speakers should be finalized by March 10, 1999. The NTM roundtables are also coming together nicely. The Youth roundtable will feature 15-20 young leaders from throughout America. The National 4-H council, in cooperation with other youth organizations, is organizing this roundtable. Participants will be nominated and selected by March 30, 1999. The National Roundtable is coming together through the efforts of PCSD, and will feature leading government, NGO and business leaders. Fourteen panelists are currently confirmed for the National roundtable. The CEO forum has three confirmed participants with additional

confirmations, for a total of six, expected by March 12, 1999. Plans for the NTM opening ceremony will be completed by March 29, 1999.

Learning Sessions: Out of more than 420 applications, approximately 144 learning sessions have been selected and will be offered Sunday, May 2, 1999 through Wednesday, May 3, 1999. Poster sessions - a scheduled two-hour offering in the NTM exhibit hall each day of its operation - were also offered to 39 applicants. By March 15, 1999, the NTM will have confirmation from all learning session presenters regarding their sessions. This information will be compiled into a program booklet as well as placed on the Web. Applicants not selected were offered to have their information included in the NTM "best practices" database and were given a reduced rate to attend the NTM.

EXHIBIT HALL
Seventy-six different companies/organizations have signed up for exhibit space. Many have more than one booth. All exhibitors currently registered can be found on the Website with their booth location. GM has reserved a space equivalent to 25 booths as has Ford. EPA has reserved 15 spaces. We have sold approximately half of the space (182) out of 400 available. Special Exhibits include:

1 - Education Exhibit organized by local group will include computers,
student projects, artwork with sustainable story and Green Map system
2-Box City - CUBE
3-Green Design contest winners
4-Shallow Footprints to include an Ecological Footprint
5-Detroit Agricultural Network-Urban Gardening
6-DOE House - demonstrates the incorrect way to build a house
7-USPS Recycling Truck
8-American Bar Association - Sustainable Office
9-Transportation - automotive information - emissions, recycling, safety
10-Strawbale Home installation
11-Affiliated Events
12-Poster Sessions
13-Renew America Award Winners
14-Rauch-Lang 1914 electric car

SHALLOW FOOTPRINTS
The Work Group is preparing for a baseline assessment of Cobo Center on March 11 and 12. During that time, Cobo Center will be hosting a Computer Show that will have a similar profile to that of the NTM. This data will be used to help assess the positive impact of the sustainability measures applied to the NTM's operation. A granddaughter-grandfather team will be our "town criers" during the conference. They will be giving the summary of the conference impact each day.

Participant footprints: source reduction ideas are being developed for exhibitors, presenters, and participants of the NTM.

Hotel participation: it has been decided that to include a Hotel assessment in our the Shallow Footprints Learning Session would be too time-intensive. However, all of the participating local hotels will receive information on how they can reduce their impact and encourage them to tell us if they are acting on any of those recommendations. The hotels will also be invited to become an Energy Star Buildings Partner.

AFFILIATED EVENTS
197 events so far have affiliated themselves with the National Town Meeting. Of those, 43 are scheduled to coincide with the Detroit event. We would like to break the 200 mark and still hope to be able to identify 20 or more concurrent events. To meet this goal, we are in dire need of help from the National Planning Committee and all of the President's Council. We are asking members to contact friends and associates and ask them to plan a one or two day event to

link to the National Town Meeting. All contacts should be directed to the website http://www.sustainableamerica.org/acrossamerica) where they will be able to register their event directly on-line.

GETF has identified a satellite provider and events should be receiving a schedule of broadcast times this week. Overall, events have been excited to affiliate with the National Town Meeting and are looking forward to having an opportunity to interact with Detroit participants.

Next steps for the Affiliated Events working group are to follow up with Journey to Detroit events to gather their contributions to the Detroit Exhibit Hall; to design the Affiliated Events Exhibit space; and to finalize logistical arrangements for committed events.

OUTREACH WORKING GROUP

The goals for the next two months are to:
· Promote diverse participation in the NTM events;
· Increase the registration of concurrent/affiliated events and exhibits; and
· Raise awareness about sustainable practices.

To accomplish this we plan to:
· Engage state liaisons & federal agency reps to help promote the NTM;
· Contact specific constituencies that may be under-represented in the data
· base of organizations to receive the brochure;
· Encourage key contacts to send out the brochure to their constituency or publicize the event in other ways;
· Follow up with key constituencies to achieve balanced and diverse representation;
· Disseminate information on ways to become more sustainable - at home, at work, and in the community;
· Encourage individuals, institutions and businesses to post their best practices and commitments; and
· Continue to work with ongoing outreach efforts that are sector and geographic specific.

Requested action items by NPC members:
· Mail out the brochure with a cover letter from highest official;
· Link your web-site to NTM; and
· Use internal intranets and other electronic and print communications to publicize the NTM.