New year, politics, Joy's 5-year anniversary

We at Environmental Building News wish you the very best for the new year. We hope that momentum for green building will continue despite uncertainty about the economy and the threat of war in Iraq. Even if new construction is depressed in 2003, we hope that generally rising oil prices and continued volatility in those prices will spur interest in energy-conscious renovation in all building sectors.

And while we certainly aren’t wishing for global warming, species extinctions, and other environmental problems, we hope that the crescendo of scientific consensus about these problems will finally get the attention of the Bush Administration and Congress so that the U.S. can begin to play a responsible role in worldwide efforts to protect the environment.

This issue addresses what could be one small step toward responsible energy policy: the adoption of programs to encourage the use of biofuels—especially biodiesel. With debate on national energy policy about to ramp up, this would be a good time to let your legislators in Washington know your thoughts on renewable energy, energy conservation, and the ability to satisfy our energy needs within a framework of environmental protection—not environmental sacrifice.

As we begin 2003, we also celebrate the five-year anniversary of Joy Wallens-Penford as our art director extraordinaire. In addition to handling design and layout, Joy does a phenomenal job of copy editing, indexing, metric conversions, and making an article that’s really way too long somehow fit. Long before joining the BuildingGreen staff, Joy did our layout and proofreading on a contract basis. Thank you, Joy!

– Alex Wilson