Photo: Dan Schlatter
Gail Twelves' Issaquah-based marketing and image company, Twelves Unlimited LLC, has for 30 years represented clients ranging from Alaska Airlines to U.S. Bank.

At the same time, she's become an effective insider advocating for the environment, serving as a board member of the Cascades Chapter of the Sierra Club while also creating change from within the power structure. She participates in organizations including the Puget Sound Regional Council and the Master Builders Association, advocating low-impact development. A year ago, she organized a nonpartisan group of environmental state legislators called the Environmental Roundtable.

Regional Council Executive Director Bob Drewel gives Twelves primary credit for recognizing that the original five "clusters" of the council's Prosperity Partnership didn't include environmental industries.

"When she saw that, she got after it like an ant at a picnic," Drewel said. "One of the things that's very clear about Gail, is that there is a deeply seated ethos about applying clean technology to the future."

On how Twelves' environmental interests evolved as she grew up in Bellevue, with an organic gardener for a mother: I grew up surrounded by giant fir trees. We were the only place that had raised beds and compost piles in Bellevue. That was how you did it.

On how she became involved in the environmental movements in the mid '90s, after an unpremeditated decision to go to her first meeting of the Sierra Club: Life comes up and taps you on the shoulder and says, 'It's time.' You don't plan these things ... I got talking to people, and before you know it I was going to meetings, and I was on the executive committee of the Eastside group.

On people's surprise at her mix of interests: Why should it be so odd that someone who is dedicated to business marketing and branding, that this cannot live side-by-side with a love of the environment and promoting how we can live lightly on the Earth. It shouldn't be such an odd thing.

On how a person with degrees in sociology and psychology ended up doing marketing: It turned out I had a natural inclination for marketing, promotion and bringing businesses together for the right customer, and I never looked back.

On how she balances business and her environmental work: My days are long. I love my job; I love my business when I work with a client I really enjoy. I think the environmental part of me is my passion, and it's hard to put that away. I keep trying to cut back, and darn it, I say 'yes' to something else. They're both part of me. I find a way to make room for both.

On the shortsightedness of allowing the Northwest's environment to be degraded: Wolves in the wild won't soil their dens, but as intelligent as human beings are, we're crapping in our beds, we're polluting everything around us, and hoping that we'll just keep moving fast enough that it won't catch up .... It scares the hell out of me. This is my home. I love the Northwest.

On public awareness of the degradation of the Northwest's environment in recent decades: We've been watching the science and watching the trends, and we know what's happening out there. What's very unfortunate is that the rest of the public doesn't catch on until you're in crisis. Then everybody wants to move and it costs too damn much, and you may not be able to recover. My goal is to find ways to communicate to the public, to lawmakers, to administration, in ways that they get it earlier, so we do more protecting than going in and cleaning up our mess.

On the question of balancing development and the environment: When it comes to the environment, how we live and build in it, I subscribe to the key words in the Hippocratic Oath: "First, do no harm." We can build and grow and build our cities, but we can do it in a less destructive way. I'm for the environment; I'm not against growth and building in a way that preserves the air, water and soil that sustain us.

On the fact that the Puget Sound Regional Council's updated 2020 plan now includes responding to environmental needs: It's so energizing to see ... an entire huge section of that vision dedicated to environmental impact. There is a tide that's starting to turn.

On the potential that this region can become a world leader in environmental balance: I think it's going to be amazing what comes out of this region. We can be recognized as world leader in clean technology and how it can be applied to all industries about the world.

Contact: swilhelm@bizjournals.com • 206-447-8505x113