GreenClips.225 10.08.03 NEAR SEATTLE, KIDS EXPERIENCE ECO-EDUCATION AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN IslandWood, a 255-acre learning center on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, offers lessons in how environmental education and sustainable design work together. Designed by architectural firm Mithun and landscape architects The Berger Partnership, this LEED gold-rated project is now in its second summer of operation, providing schoolchildren with three-to-four day stays where they learn about how ecosystems work. The built campus is a loose gathering of structures dominated by colonnades of recycled logs. Solar panels cover one side of the butterfly-sloped roofs. A "Living Machine" cleans gray and black water for reuse in toilets on the site. Rain-harvesting cisterns store water for the organic farm. The land, a thrice-logged tree farm and second-growth forest, is now a restored natural landscape and a living laboratory. Nearly 100 percent of the site's biomass was retained throughout the restoration project. Harvested wood, snags, and forest floor duff were stockpiled during construction. Site restoration included the eradication of invasive plant species and revegetation with native plants, many of which were salvaged during construction. Rock piles and brush piles made of site-salvaged logs and branches encourage the presence of wildlife. Salvaged topsoil is amended with diatomaceous earth to increase water retention and eliminate the need for a permanent irrigation system. Landscape Architecture, Oct 2003, p 84, by Clair Enlow. [More: http://www.islandwood.org] COMPETITION SEEKS GREEN DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES FOR LOWER MANHATTAN A nonprofit group called Green Ground Zero (GGZ) has launched a competition soliciting green development schemes for downtown New York. Erik Stowers, founder of GGZ, said the competition is intended "to transform Lower Manhattan into a showcase for cutting-edge technologies and a working model and prototype for future green cities worldwide." Proposals for downtown may include energy-efficient buildings, transit centers, and parks and recreational facilities. Awards will be given in five categories: energy; light and air; construction; greenery, water, and waste; and ecology. GGZ's leaders hope the winning schemes will provide food for thought for those rebuilding downtown. The deadline for entries is October 20. More: http://www.greengroundzero.org Architectural Record, Oct 2003, p 26, by Deborah Snoonian. GREEN BUILDING RATING TOOL INTRODUCED IN AUSTRALIA Australia's Green Building Council (GBC) recently launched a pilot version of its environmental rating tool for office buildings. The Green Star rating system uses six stars to measure performance in relation to management, health and well-being, energy, transport, water, materials, land use and ecology, and pollution, and awards additional credits for innovation. "We have taken the best from existing international rating tools and modified these to suit the Australian climate and market, marrying a strong scientific basis with a simplicity that everyone can understand and use," said Che Wall, chair of the Australian GBC's technical committee. But some people see the tool as "greenwash" -- that is, cashing in on green trends without delivering the goods. Peter Szental, an engineer, energy consultant and retail property developer, says the key problem is the absence of minimum standards in each area, and that it is possible to score badly for energy but still win five stars out of six overall. The pilot green star rating tool can be downloaded from http://www.gbcaus.org. Building Australia, Sept. 2003, p 8 and The Australian Financial Review, 14 Aug 2003, by Tim Perinotto. PURCHASING COOL CARPET FUNDS CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION Carpet purchasers concerned about climate change can specify Interface's "Cool Carpet," a climate-neutral product. "Ninety percent of the emissions associated with the life cycle of our products occur outside our manufacturing process," according to Interface chairman Ray Anderson. Cool Carpet is an effort to mitigate those emissions. When a customer specifies Cool Carpet, Interface funds greenhouse-gas reduction projects estimated to offset the climate damage attributable to the carpet. Cool Carpet is standard on the Interface i2 collection and available for an additional charge of up to 20 cents per square yard on any other Interface, Bentley, Prince Street or Huega products. Interface's Cool Carpet website includes a tool that calculates the average carbon dioxide emissions from the full life cycle of a carpet purchase. The nonprofit organization Climate Neutral Network (CNN) certifies the Cool Carpet program. They verify the accuracy of the life-cycle emissions of the product, and then ensure that the emission reduction credits are sufficient to achieve a net zero impact on the earth's climate. Environmental Building News, Oct. 2003, p 11, by Jessica Boehland, and Interface website. [More: http://www.interfacesustainability.com/coolcarpet.html ; http://www.climateneutral.com] MAHOGANY HARVESTED ILLEGALLY IN PERU WINDS UP IN AMERICAN HOMES A murky multimillion-dollar trade in mahogany may be whittling away the Amazon, endangering isolated indigenous groups and threatening the commercial future of an ever-scarce tree. The mahogany trade remains legal within stringent international rules. But with a recent crackdown on illegal logging in Brazil, Peru is now the largest producer. The equivalent of 50,000 trees has wound up in the United States, according to one estimate by the World Wildlife Fund. Conservation groups and even some government officials say that as much as 90 percent of that mahogany is logged illegally. Peru is taking new steps to combat the trade but some people question whether the government has the resources to enforce the law fully. The mahogany found in the Amazon -- Big Leaf Mahogany, Swietenia macrophylla -- is so valuable that one tree, once crafted, can be worth more than $100,000. Many furniture makers and retailers say they simply do not know where their mahogany comes from. "We purchase our lumber through a distributor," said David Hamm, production manager at Buffalo's furniture maker Kittenger. "We just place an order and it's shipped to us." At Classic Galleries, a fine furniture store in Huntington, NY, the unmistakable rippled grain of mahogany gleams on ornately carved dining tables, bureaus and headboards. But no one at the showroom knows where the mahogany comes from, said Barbara Marcone, a saleswoman at the store for 19 years. "Nobody asks," she said. The New York Times, 28 Sept 2003, p 8, by Juan Forero. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GreenClips is free of charge thanks to individual members and these sponsors: C&A FLOORCOVERINGS We choose not to just make carpet but to also make a difference. http://www.powerbond.com EPA'S ENVIRONMENTALLY-PREFERABLE PURCHASING PROGRAM Greening the government, one purchase at a time. http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/epp GREEN BUILDING SERVICES http://www.greenbuildingservices.com Green Building Services offers environmental design and energy efficient consulting services to help you design, build and market high-performance commercial buildings, through design charrettes, energy analyses and the entire LEED certification process. WSU ENERGY PROGRAM http://www.energy.wsu.edu Providing objective research, information and solutions. Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program in Olympia, Washington. Subscribe to GreenClips and other mailing lists on energy and the environment at http://listserv.energy.wsu.edu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GREENCLIPS NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT! Twice a month GreenClips is distributed electronically to over 10,000 readers interested in sustainable building design. But we can't do it without the financial support of our sponsors and members. If you find GreenClips valuable, please consider becoming a sponsor or voluntary member. Email chrishammer@greenclips.com for details. ABOUT THE PUBLISHER: Sustainable design consultant Chris Hammer publishes GreenClips in San Francisco. Ms. Hammer helps her clients with environmentally responsible approaches to urban planning and development, and to building design, construction, and operation. GreenClips is edited by Jennifer Roberts (jennifer@jenniferroberts.com), whose book on green home design will be published in 2003. To CONTACT THE PUBLISHER: Email chrishammer@greenclips.com or call 415.928.7941. BACK ISSUES Two Internet sites host GreenClips archives for reference and research: http://listserv.energy.wsu.edu/greenclips/visit.html (keyword search) http://www.greenclips.com (browse contents) REDISTRIBUTION Please do not redistribute or post copies of GreenClips regularly. Encourage readers who receive GreenClips from you to subscribe directly. Continuing sponsorship depends on accurate reader counts. SUBSCRIBE / UNSUBSCRIBE To subscribe via e-mail send a blank message to subscribe-greenclips@listserv.energy.wsu.edu To unsubscribe via e-mail send a blank message to unsubscribe-greenclips@listserv.energy.wsu.edu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Copyright 2003 Sustainable Design Resources. All rights reserved. Republishing GreenClips in print or on a web site, in whole or in part, or commercial distribution in any form requires advance permission of the publisher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .