The latest dust up over green building rating systems, especially their efficacy relative to each other, highlights the danger of mixing the ideals of environmentalism with the self-interest of running an environmentalist organization.
Katie Weeks reports that Greenwash Action, a new nonprofit, joint initiative of the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, has gone on the offensive against the Green Globes rating system of the Green Building Initiative. "Today the organization released a report that critiques the stringency of Green Globes—which states 'Green Globes is greenwash'—and issued an open letter to GBI's board of directors asking them to stop marketing Green Globes as an equivalent green building rating system to LEED and the Living Building Challenge, and to cease its underwriting of negative attacks on LEED and the USGBC."
"The letter came one day after GBI released a study from Drexel University that states that Green Globes is significantly cheaper and faster to use than LEED, and roughly two months after the launch of LEED Exposed, a website from a group called the Environmental Policy Alliance that claims that LEED is a failed rating system. LEED Exposed is not directly related to GBI."
FULL STORY: Anti-Greenwashing Group Launches With Letter to GBI
The Search for a New Green Building Standard
The need to slash emissions from buildings is increasingly urgent, and critics say LEED won't get us there.
LEED Certification: Path to Better Buildings or Bigger Bottom Lines?
With supporting evidence from a USA TODAY analysis, Thomas Frank examines the LEED points system and finds that certification, and the tax breaks and other rewards that go with it, can be easily obtained without proven environmental impact.
Affordable Housing Industry Embraces Green Building Techniques
Affordable housing advocates find that green building techniques result in higher-quality construction -- and often with costs comparable to traditional building techniques.
National Parks Layoffs Will Cause Communities to Lose Billions
Thousands of essential park workers were laid off this week, just before the busy spring break season.
Retro-silient?: America’s First “Eco-burb,” The Woodlands Turns 50
A master-planned community north of Houston offers lessons on green infrastructure and resilient design, but falls short of its founder’s lofty affordability and walkability goals.
Delivering for America Plan Will Downgrade Mail Service in at Least 49.5 Percent of Zip Codes
Republican and Democrat lawmakers criticize the plan for its disproportionate negative impact on rural communities.
Test News Post 1
This is a summary
Test News Headline 46
Test for the image on the front page.
Balancing Bombs and Butterflies: How the National Guard Protects a Rare Species
The National Guard at Fort Indiantown Gap uses GIS technology and land management strategies to balance military training with conservation efforts, ensuring the survival of the rare eastern regal fritillary butterfly.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service