Longtime Bay Area green building pioneer and activist Jason Grant has started a new project, Greenwash Action. GA is dedicated to pulling the covers on greenwashing shenanigans, particularly those bankrolled by deep-pockets trade groups like the American Chemistry Council. ACC and others have been waging a war against LEED and the USGBC because of the USGBC’s stance on product disclosures, for example. What?! Tell consumers what’s in our products??! You must be joking!

Greenwash Action needs your support NOW. To help GA earn a matching grant, donate today.

Read Jason’s letter:

Dear sustainability leaders,
Thanks to your generosity, Greenwash Action is just $2000 shy of our first goal – when we reach the $5,000 mark, your donations will be matched dollar for dollar in defense of true environmental leadership standards. You can help get us there!

The Congress-mandated National Climate Assessment, scheduled for publication next month, predicts a 2° to 4° temperature rise in the next few decades.  The Assessment confirms that the built environment is implicated in nearly every core climate-related issue: energy, water, natural resources and materials, urban infrastructure, and economic stability.
It all adds up to one incontrovertible truth: we don’t have any more time to waste.  All sectors of the building industry need to unite now around curbing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate impacts.

We’re launching Greenwash Action to take a strong stand against greenwashing in the building sector, but our ultimate goal is to catalyze alignment. We’re calling on the chemical, plastics and timber industries to cease their attacks on LEED and to reposition Green Globes as an entry-level standard, so that we can redirect the time and energy that are currently tied up in negative competition to finding solutions and green and the building industry can lead the way towards a healthy, biodiverse and climate-stable world.

Will you stand with Greenwash Action as we advocate for true environmental leadership?

Thank you for your support, and stay tuned for a preview of our website, coming next week.

Jason Grant
Executive Director<
Greenwash Action
707-376-9356

P.S. Greenwash Action received its first media coverage, a profile in Building Green. We have been putting the donations we have received so far to work on our media plan, and aim to generate a lot more coverage surrounding our launch.

P.P.S. Save the date for our Bay Area launch party, May 15 – more details soon!

The post Stamp Out Greenwash — Support Greenwash Action! appeared first on House Talk US.

120 green building leaders and innovators in the built environment gathered last weekend at BuildWell 2014 in Sausalito, CA. Kudos to Ecological Building Network‘s Bruce King, co-producer Sarah King, and their dedicated band of volunteers for producing a brilliant event. The speaker line-up included keynotes from Architecture 2030‘s Ed Mazria, science wiz John Warner from the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, and ecological footprint creator Mathis Wackernagel of the Global Footprint Network — visionaries all.

Highlights — besides the keynotes — included talks by at least two dozen inspiring individuals. Organizations represented included the USGBC, International Living Future Institute, Healthy Building Network, Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, the US EPA, University of San Francisco, University of Santa Clara, BuildingGreen Inc., Gensler, Arup, Webcor Builders, Pankow Blue, and a host of other leading AEC firms.

Hosted at the gorgeous Cavallo Point resort (a star in its own right), this intimate meeting of the minds was the antithesis of the Greenbuild crush, where you’re lucky to spend 90 seconds with your favorite gurus. With most of the participants staying on premises, there were countless impromptu meetings and gabfests on porches, in hallways, and by the firepits.

Invite yourself to BW16 — sign up for the mailing list at http://www.ecobuildnetwork.org/contact.

Better yet, join the organizing team or become a sponsor for this exclusive event!

BuildWell 2014 Attendees at Cavallo Point, March 22, 2014