People Centered Environmentalism

Architecture has always been about bringing art, engineering and interaction of people together in such a way that the building serves a people-purpose as it interacts with its physical setting.  The change being brought about by the revolution of environmentally-effective design, LEED, is that the “people” component is rightly raised to a higher level.  We’re not just touching the people in the building and neighborhood, although they’re the primary beneficiaries, we’re reaching back into the supply chains and asking how the raw materials were extracted, what chemicals are used in extraction and processing, and whether these chemicals remain at the factory, or if they have come to live in the building.  As importantly, we need to know how it all affects the workers and factory communities.

Can the materials manufacturer prove its practices are compatible with, and supportive of, the goals of sustainability and LEED?

Architects and owners are insisting on knowing and eliminating chemicals of concern, ridding materials of persistent bioaccumulative toxicants.

Case-in-point:  Architectural Firm Aims for Zero Toxins; Helen Christophi, 12/14/2010; GreenBuildingNews.