, a Martha’s Vineyard design/build firm, seeks a residential architect and/or designer committed to ecological design. For details, visit

www.somoco.com or e-mail John Abrams at jabrams@vineyard.net.

On May 9, 2003, the Board of Directors of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) unanimously passed a resolution titled “Support for Green Building.” The resolution lays out a number of issues and goals, which boil down to two primary objectives: to acknowledge and support the interest in green building among many builders and local... Read more

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Center has announced the winners of its third annual National Green Building Awards, “to honor and encourage builders, programs, advocates, and products in the advancement of environmentally friendly residential construction.” This year’s winners are:

In our listing of green champions who were inducted into The American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows this year, we unfortunately omitted

Fulton (Tony) Gale, FAIA. Gale has been a stalwart champion of energy efficiency and sustainable design for decades and, as Seattle’s City Architect, was a driving force behind Seattle’s... Read more

On May 2, 2003, at the EnvironDesign® 7 conference in Washington, D.C., William McDonough announced the launch of a nonprofit organization to facilitate dissemination of the design approaches and resources his companies have developed. “We’re launching the GreenBlue program today to give away the cradle-to-cradle protocol freely,” McDonough... Read more

is the winner of this year’s

ASLA Medal, bestowed by the American Society of Landscape Architects. Haag was instrumental in saving Seattle’s Pike Place Market, now one of the city’s most popular attractions. A complete list of ASLA award winners is online at

www.asla.org.

A Quebec-based manufacturer of contract fabrics is the first to offer a line of polyester textiles that meet a stringent set of ecological criteria developed by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC). The Eco Intelligent™ fabrics from Victor Innovatex are made in accordance with MBDC’s “cradle-to-cradle” protocol. In this protocol, each... Read more

EPA unveiled the online Construction Industry Compliance Assistance Center (CICAcenter) in May, developed by the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, in partnership with the Associated General Contractors of America, the National Association of Home Builders, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, and the Golf Course... Read more

Honeywell and BASF completed a major transaction on May 1, when Honeywell sold its worldwide engineering-plastics business to BASF in exchange for BASF’s worldwide nylon-fiber business and $90 million. With this transaction, BASF exited the fibers market to concentrate on plastics. The new Honeywell Nylon division will offer Honeywell’s Anso®... Read more

We appreciate EBN’s comprehensive article Forest Certification Growing Fast (EBN Vol. 12, No. 4). While we agree that the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has driven important improvements in forestry and alternative certification programs, we strongly disagree that industry- and government-backed “certification programs are becoming similar... Read more

Arlington, Massachusetts passed a new law in May requiring that construction or substantial renovation of all town-owned buildings achieves LEED™ Silver certification. According to the law, no project will be considered complete until certification has been confirmed by the U.S. Green Building Council or until an equivalent or greater rating... Read more

Hammons School of Architecture at Springfield, Missouri’s Drury University will integrate the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED™ Rating System into its curriculum, beginning this autumn. The school plans to increase the percentage of faculty who are LEED-accredited, offer a new course about the Council and LEED, and increase the prominence of... Read more

Canadian forest-products giant Tembec has completed FSC certification of its 5-million-acre (2 million ha) Gordon Cosens Boreal Forest in northeastern Ontario. This forest, certified by SmartWood, is now the largest North American forest operation to carry FSC certification. By 2005, Tembec intends to certify all 32 million acres (13 million ha... Read more

outdoor air, while most consumer interest in these products has come from those looking to improve

indoor air... Read more

The International Hotels Environment Initiative and Oceans Blue recently honored Meeting Strategies Worldwide with the first

Environmentally Responsible Meetings Award for its work on the 2002 Forest Leadership Forum. This event, showcasing ecological forest management certification programs, was held in April 2002 in Atlanta, Georgia.... Read more

A chemical used in food packaging and other plastics causes miscarriages and birth defects in laboratory mice, geneticists at Case Western Reserve University have found. Bisphenol A, used to manufacture the hard, clear plastic polycarbonate and a sealant to prevent cavities in teeth, mimics the hormone estrogen, according to the researchers,... Read more

almost another system. Taco®, the nation’s largest... Read more

Just in time for Earth Day, The American Institute of Architects announced the Top Ten Green Projects for 2003. Winning entries include residential, commercial, and educational projects. The awards program was cosponsored this year by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Building Museum, and hosted online by BuildingGreen, Inc. Full... Read more

California diverted 48% of its waste stream from landfills in 2002, according to the California Integrated Waste Management Board. A total of 34 million tons (31 million tonnes) of solid waste were diverted last year, a fourfold increase since 1990, when the Integrated Waste Management Act took effect in the state. This law requires every local... Read more

EBN that... Read more