EcoTalk's Archives

Andres Edwards and EduTracks

In the growing Green Building Community, Andres Edwards of EduTracks and author of The Sustainability Revolution is among the most thoughtful. Here he opines on Tibet, Deep Ecology, and helping companies like Whole Foods, Pfizer, small non profits, and government agencies make the practical decisions that we will look back on and call wisdom: "When I started, it was a huge learning curve for folks to begin to understand, 'What is Green building?' As it's very rapidly been mainstreamed people are a lot more familiar." LISTEN (11 min)

Ward Hubbell takes Green Building to Washington

Green Building Initiative's Ward Hubbell checks in with EcoTalk following his Senate testimony on how the Federal Government makes Green Building an implicit part of a smart, forward-thinking government: "I think what [the Senate] were trying to do was get educated on the various rating systems out there and the different approaches." Find out about GBI's Green Globes rating system here. LISTEN (8 min)

Kevin Contreras: Building Green

Kevin Contreras talks about his new PBS program Building Green.
LISTEN ( 10 min)
You can also read his blog.

The Greenest School In America? It's in Hawaii. Obama went there. It rocks.

Punahou School President Jim Scott chats with Betsy about becoming the first school in the US to meet LEED Gold standards (the costs of which were partially financed by a donation from Punahou alumnus Steve Case (of aol fame), and how they are making sure that the lessons are not lost on their students: "We have an obligation to the students to have the buildings become a medium for instruction."
LISTEN (8 min)

Dr. Dickson Despommier: Vertical Farms

Columbia Department of Environmental Health Science Microbiologist Dr. Dickson Despommier breaks down the science nonfiction idea that he says is a key component to any serious solution to the Earth's growing population pressures: Vertical Farms, urban skyscrapers housing productive, efficient, sustainable, and extremely local agriculture for an increasingly urbanized world: "Over the next 50 years there'll be 3 billion more people on this planet." Are Vertical Farms part of the answer? Dr. Despommier gives his take (yes), and points out that these structures can also serve as water treatment plants and other valuable public infrastructure. LISTEN (8 min)

Charles Lockwood and Green Building

Environmental and Real Estate Consultant Charles Lockwood shares with Betsy both the broad trends and nuanced particulars of the Green Building movement, and the influential municipalities across the United States that are the early-adopters of what will become the future of construction. LISTEN (12 min)

Eric Corey Freed: Organic Architecture

Eric Corey Freed tells us why he's an Organic Architect and says that with buildings among the worst environmental offenders, we can no longer ignore the obvious: the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, there is no business case for building with toxic materials, and we shouldn't be green because it's hip or because we feel guilty: we should do it because it's logical. LISTEN (11 min)

His blog

Green Building Conference

Donald Simon, West Coast Green building conference co-host and member of West Coast Green's advisory board, says that Green Building is an idea whose time has come, and it is increasingly cost neutral.
LISTEN (7 min)

Picture: Community Greenhouse