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Blogs

Take an inside look into emerging markets and trends. Gain valuable new perspectives from HBN experts and our partners. Be inspired to know better.

Cancer in the Kitchen...

Julie Silas | December 07, 2009 | Policies

Until I read "Cancer from the Kitchen," Nicholas Kristof's opinion piece in this Sunday's New York Times, I actually thought I would take an entire weekend for my family, putting work aside for two days. But, Kristof's article was a reminder that there is little that separates my home from my work these days.Kristof posed the "What i...


Greenwash at Greenbuild, Gambling in Casablanca

Bill Walsh | December 02, 2009 | Policies

Captain Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! Croupier: Your winnings, sir. Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much. Captain Renault: Everybody out at once![1] The reports are in. There’s gambling in Casablanca. Treehugger found the usual suspects on the exhibition floor.[2] GreenBiz too re...


The Story of Cap & Trade

Bill Walsh | December 01, 2009 | Policies

Global warming potential - like many health, environmental, and social issues - is hard to tag with a single number. That is why the Pharos Project is developing multi-attribute profiles for the products that go into our buildings everyday. To date, our research suggests that many factors must be addressed in combating the climate crisis, leaving t...


This Thanksgiving: See the Forest Through the Beans

Bill Walsh | November 23, 2009 | Policies

Dean Cycon of Dean's Beans and Doug Pierce of Perkins + Will I was standing in the coffee aisle of my local co-op last Wednesday, the bustle around me signaling the start of the Thanksgiving rush. Sipping a complimentary decaf, handed to me by Dean Cycon, owner of Dean’s Beans coffee, one of the co-ops most popular brands, I couldn&rsquo...


"Red List" & "Precautionary List" Chemicals Found in Pregnant Women

Bill Walsh | November 18, 2009 | Policies

Can we agree that if toxic chemicals from a building material are showing up in babies, then that is not a "green" building material?The Washington Toxics Coalition just released a new study in which they tested nine pregnant women, from Washington, Oregon, and California, for a range of toxic chemicals commonly found in building material...


The Coming Age of Radical Transparency

Bill Walsh | October 22, 2009 | Policies

In his new book, Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything, Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer Daniel Goleman describes an imminent “informational sea change” that will fundamentally alter green business practices as “the control of data shifts from sellers to buyers.”[1] The g...


Toxic Assets

Bill Walsh | May 06, 2009 | Policies

President Obama has rightfully linked our economic recovery to our environmental recovery. But we need to break the link between the corporate behavior that drove us to the brink of financial ruin in the first place and that which continues to drive us towards ecological ruin. Like the economic collapse, our ecological collapse is being fueled by i...


Guilt By (Trade) Association: HBN Responds to the Formaldehyde Council

Tom Lent | April 22, 2009 | Policies

On January 21, 2009, Healthy Building News published an article in its "Did You Know" series pointing out that fiberglass batt insulation can release potentially hazardous levels of formaldehyde, a known cancer-causing chemical. The article also noted that an increasing number of batt insulation products are now available with no added fo...


Did You Know...

Bill Walsh | April 08, 2009 | Policies

...The April 1 Edition of Healthy Building News Was A Spoof ?


Introducing Organic Vinyl

Bill Walsh | April 01, 2009 | Policies

HBN has learned that at the May meeting of the National Organic Standards Board, the Obama Department of Agriculture (USDA) will announce that some polyvinyl chloride products (also known as PVC or vinyl) will soon carry the USDA Organic label. The designation will be granted to products that have been certified as made from vinyl, a combination of "common salt . . . and . . . natural gas.”