What’s in My Chair? Materials and Health Lessons from the Experts

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 “ride along” during deep ocean exploration. As an adult, the same desire to have engaging experiences through videos has remained.

I watch a lot of great educational and inspirational videos online. Things like TED talks, Greenbuild master session speakers, and green building education. These great speakers are experts in their field providing in depth information in a way that inspires, excites, and informs.

As part of the Materials and Health event series, USGBC is committed to bringing you opportunities to learn from industry thought leaders from the comfort of your home. We’ve gathered and recorded the foremost experts in architecture and design, materials science, toxicology, specification and procurement, building development, chemistry, and more. These are the people who designed the systems and tools that help project teams achieve the new LEED v4 materials credits. We’ve tapped into their knowledge and experience to help you better understand the scale, scope, and pervasiveness of the problems (and solutions!) of the green building industry today.

Each free event “video set” comes with a full recording of the lecture as well as a short interview with the speaker(s) about their perspective on industry barriers and their vision for the future of safer materials in the built environment.

Currently there are 20 videos in the event series covering a variety of topics and more videos are added all the time. Themes for the year include:

Transparency and disclosure
Materials selection and alternatives assessment
The health dimensions of materials
Professional training and recognition
The state of information technology supporting this market transformation
Innovation

We hope these videos empower you to speak with your clients and colleagues about the exciting changes happening at the forefront of materials and health in the built environment. So sit back, kick your feet up, grab a bowl of popcorn and click play.