LITMIR.BIZ

      Saving the planet has become an intense topic of popular and political debate. What you may not know is that for decades, the means to this end has been deceptively marketed to consumers, often to the detriment of the cause. The architecture and building industry has been as complicit as anyone.

      Since the environmental movement of the ’60s, and the founding in 1970 of both the first Earth Day and the EPA, most people have been aware of myriad things they could do to make the world an ecologically sounder place, from recycling to using unleaded gasoline. Madison Avenue has exploited our desire to do good—or to be seen as doing good.

      In the 1980s, a researcher discovered that those ubiquitous tent cards in hotel bathrooms asking us to use the bath towels a second or third day were an attempt to appear environmentally conscious when the real intention was to increase profit by saving on hotel operating costs. (I also wonder if those cards cost more in nonrecycled card stock and non-petroleum-based ink than any possible operational savings.)

      The term “greenwashing” was coined as a result and now applies to marketing attempts intended to deceive the public, to give products a “green sheen.”

      It got so bad that the Federal Trade Commission had to step in. Here is just one passage of the green guidelines set by the FTC: “Overstatement of environmental attribute: An environmental marketing claim should not be presented in a manner that overstates the environmental attribute or benefit, expressly or by implication. Marketers should avoid implications of significant environmental benefits if the benefit is in fact negligible.”

      In my world, there has been a concerted effort by the government to issue guidelines, incentives, and certification to architects and builders for “green” buildings. I am a LEED-accredited architect, meaning I have passed a lengthy and detailed test created by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). On its website, the USGBC defines LEED as follows: “LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, is transforming the way we think about how our buildings and communities are designed, constructed, maintained and operated across the globe. Comprehensive and flexible, LEED is a green building tool that addresses the entire building lifecycle recognizing best-in-class building strategies. At its core, LEED is a program that provides third-party verification of green buildings. Building projects satisfy prerequisites and earn points to achieve different levels of certification.” The USGBC site goes on to list a point system for achieving silver, gold, or platinum LEED status for a building, with every possible aspect taken into consideration, from advanced cooling systems to ecofriendly building materials, from low-water-use landscaping to, yes, the ubiquitous solar panel.

      In the best and sincerest way possible, I believe in being a steward for the environment, both the physical and the social. Aside from the exciting flights of artistic fancy in architectural design, architects are trained to provide, at a minimum, shelter that takes into consideration life, safety, security, and human welfare.

      This broad and simple premise covers many subcategories such as aesthetics, budget, construction techniques, and material research. Specific to this discussion, I believe that practicing as a professional in the field of architecture means the responsible acknowledgment and handling of our environment, society, and culture for the next and succeeding generations. This position is a matter not just of ethics or virtue but also of common sense and decency.

      Here’s the catch.

      Building “green” has become a necessary bragging right and sometimes a misleading marketing position to attract customers. Greenwashing can take the form of companies who change the names of their products to sound greener, add a green banner to their website, and then call themselves leaders in the green industry. Such companies spend more dollars in creating the spin and aura of being green than in bona fide research to support the supposed environmental benefits of their projects.

      For example, some architectural products now sold as green are the same as their “pregreen” ancestors. Precast-concrete items are now marketed as “Enviro Sand Resin” or “Eco-Panels” that can achieve a “10-Point Green Premiere Certification

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