Bill Walsh | December 21, 2005
PVC phase-outs by leading U.S. corporate brands are now a familiar landmark on the road to corporate sustainability. On December 7, 2005, The Wall Street Journal reported that "Microsoft Corp. is curbing its use of a popular plastic known as PVC amid growing health and environmental concerns ... the latest company to distance itself from polyv...
Bill Walsh | November 17, 2005
Last week, the Healthy Building Network (HBN) attended Greenbuild, the US Green Building Council's (USGBC) annual conference and exhibition in Atlanta, Georgia. HBN Founder Bill Walsh spoke on a panel entitled "Ethics and Green Building," and our annual Healthy Building Leadership Awards reception honored six long-time environmental j...
Bill Walsh | November 03, 2005
Like New Orleans, Greenbuild is a one-of-a-kind experience. The crowds are teeming, the culture is inviting, the optimism is infectious, and the good times roll with a confidence bordering on indifference to the surrounding forces that could swamp it all. The USGBC's ambitious initiative to host a series of Greenbuild mini-charettes in order to...
Bill Walsh | October 10, 2005
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has asked architect Andres Duany of the Congress for the New Urbanism to organize a design forum to plan the rebuilding of the Mississippi Gulf Coast communities. Elected and other key public officials and stakeholders are being invited to participate in this process to be held October 11-18 in Biloxi's Isle o...
Bill Walsh | September 21, 2005
On Thursday August 4, 2005 the US Green Building Council (USGBC) Board of Directors unanimously approved new bylaws that allow trade associations to become members of the organization, reversing last year's "No" vote on the same question.[1] USGBC President, CEO and Founding Chairman Rick Fedrizzi championed what he called "a his...
Bill Walsh | September 13, 2005
Bill Walsh | August 09, 2005
All that is necessary for the triumph of greenwash is that good people do nothing (with apologies to Edmund Burke). The practitioners at the heart of the green building movement have shown their true colors again: honestly green, they don't want the standards they follow and the certifications they hold to be dictated by the nation's most n...
Bill Walsh | July 19, 2005
The race to the bottom of green building standards starts on July 25, 2005 when the American Institute of Architects (AIA) convenes a Sustainable Building Standards Policy Summit[1] that appears to have been scripted by the leading opponents of legitimate green building standards. Troubling conflicts of interest at the AIA suggest a relationship be...
Bill Walsh | June 29, 2005
The Healthy Building Network released today the first study to rate plastic lumber strictly on environmental and public health priorities.[1] We found huge disparities in environmental quality, including recycled content that ranges from 0 to 100%. The good news is that the most environmentally preferable products are poised to become the industry...
Bill Walsh | June 17, 2005
This article draws heavily from studies, analysis and commentary available on the searchable databases at www.ourstolenfuture.org[1] According to their manufacturers, the principle use of a class of chemicals known as phthalates (pronounced thall eights) "is to soften the popular plastic, polyvinylchloride" (known as PVC or vinyl) used in...
