In January 2013, the USGBC published a report from the Summit on Green Building and Human Health which began to identify the links between green buildings, health, and human rights and urged further research in this emerging area. Less than two years later, the first ma …
By Kelly Worden on
12 Aug 2014 •
openbook 1 minute read
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is striving to create a “culture of health” so that all Americans are empowered and able to lead healthy lives. The culture of health movement aims to break down the barriers to health currently faced by many Americans. …
By David Marcus on
06 Aug 2014 •
openbook 2 minute read
Maybe it’s a vestige from grade school, but I’ve always loved watching educational videos. I remember getting a little thrill each time the teacher broke out the VHS player (remember those?) and we got to watch an interesting video about how volcanoes form or “rid …
By Kelly Worden on
31 Jul 2014 •
openbook 1 minute read
In previous versions of LEED, the bicycle rack credit was seen as a notoriously easy LEED credit to achieve. Building owners could install a bicycle rack, provide changing rooms and gain credit for it, regardless of whether or not building users were enabled to actually …
By David Marcus on
27 May 2014 •
openbook 4 minute read
Increasing transparency and scientific understanding around the health impacts of building materials is unquestionably a timely and complex topic. The growing number of chemicals and products in the marketplace brings a deluge of new information and opportunities, but w …
By Adam Maynard on
02 May 2014 •
openbook 3 minute read
Last month, Tom Lent, Policy Director of the Healthy Building Network sat down alongside Brendan Owens, VP of LEED Technical Development at USGBC, for a lunch talk entitled Building Material Transparency: We Should Care What’s in Our Buildings. It was the second suc …
Last week the California Department of Toxic Substances (DTSC) announced three “priority products” containing chemicals of concern that will inaugurate its Safer Consumer Products Program. The program requires that the manufacturers of these products will need to …
There is a growing movement to refocus building design and operations on human health. LEED v4 is seeking a market transformation by incorporating materials transparency into its materials and resources credits, and by integrating other health-based strategies into othe …
By Kelly Worden on
07 Mar 2014 •
openbook 1 minute read
A new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) brings together an impressive body of research illustrating the role of geography and the built environment as determinants of health. RWJF believes that your zip code should not be more important than your gen …
By Karen Lee on
05 Mar 2014 •
openbook 3 minute read
Over the last decade, there has been growing interest among public health professionals in improving the built environment – the human-made environment including our buildings, streets, neighborhoods and their amenities - to address health. Recent interest at the US …
