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| TABLE OF CONTENTS | Volume XVIII, Number 1
JANUARY/FEBRUARY, 2007 |
COVER STORY
BUILDINGS THAT BREATHE - Green Construction is Coming of Age
Five percent of new commercial construction meets standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program (LEED). Ten percent of new homes satisfy the federal government’s Energy Star guidelines, meaning they’re nearly one-third more energy-efficient than regulations require. But U.S. buildings put out about a third of the country’s greenhouse gasses, and at the rate green building is penetrating the market today, it will be many years before we save the 70 percent of emissions thought necessary to stabilize the climate.
By Sally Deneen and Brian Clark Howard
SIDEBAR: CRADLE TO CRADLE
In 2002, William McDonough and Michael Braungart published Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (Northpoint Press). They identify two fundamental problems. The first is that we design products to be thrown “away” when, in fact, there is no “away,” and cradle-to-grave designs foul our own nest. The Earth is a finite, closed, living system, and the things we produce are not beamed to a distant galaxy but stay right here and affect the health of our planet.
By Shannon Huecker
SIDEBAR: THE GLOBAL VIEW: SOMETIMES, SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL
As the construction industry “goes global,” the amazing diversity of the world’s architecture has suffered. In the last 30 to 50 years, new buildings in New York, London and Beijing have started to look the same.
By Shannon Huecker
SIDEBAR: MICHAEL BRAUNGART: DESIGNING “ECO-EFFECTIVE” SOLUTIONS
Michael Braungart, a professor at Germany’s University of Lüneburg, is co-author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (Northpoint Press) with green architect William McDonough. He was a founding member of Germany’s Green Party in the late 1970s and later directed Greenpeace’s chemistry department. In 1987, with the help of his Greenpeace connections, he founded the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA).
By Shannon Huecker
FEATURES
GREEN DESIGN ON A ROLL - Economics and Environment Align for Energy-Efficient Buildings
Lindsay Suter, a green architect in Connecticut, made a vow. He wasn’t going to design mega mansions or outsized additions. Instead, he was going to devote 100 percent of his practice to environmentally themed designs. It’s a promise he kept.
By Jim Motavalli
GREEN LIVING
YOUR HEALTH: BEHIND THE LABEL - Processed Foods Serve Up Questionable Additives
By Melissa Knopper
EATING RIGHT: IT’S ALIVE! - Yogurt’s Health Secret is Live Bacterial Cultures
By Starre Vartan
HOUSE & HOME: SPIC AND SPAN - A Greener Approach to Cleaning Products
By Mindy Pennybacker
MONEY MATTERS: OILS’ WELL? - The Prospects for Biofuel Stocks
By Rona Fried
GOING GREEN: STEWARDSHIP AND RECREATION - Is this a Marriage Made in Utah?
By Brianne Goodspeed
CONSUMER NEWS: GREEN CLICKS - Eco-Blogs Come of Age
TOOLS FOR GREEN LIVING - Resources for eco-awareness and action
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E WORD
IT’S EASY BUILDING GREEN
CURRENTS
GOOD VIBRATIONS - Musicians Go the Extra Mile to Support Green Causes
EMISSION-FREE EUROPE - Hydrogen Projects, from Iceland to Italy
SAVING THE JORDAN - The Sacred Middle Eastern River is Dying
GREEN BANANAS? - Chiquita Teams up with the Rainforest Alliance
IN BRIEF
REFORMING RICE: LUNDBERG’S GREENER FARMS
COW POWER
DARING TO DECONSTRUCT
THAR SHE BLOWS!
UPDATES
WAL-MART ACCUSED OF FAKING ORGANICS
ELECTING CLIMATE ACTION
NOT FINDING NEMO
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