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About Us |
About Building in Good Faith
Over the past decade, the topic of “green building” – the design and construction of buildings in an environmentally preferable manner – has entered the American mainstream, with more and more individuals seeking to build or renovate in a way that decreases their construction’s environmental impact. GreenFaith has partnered with the Healthy Building Network (HBN) to launch Building in Good Faith (BGF), an initiative to develop green building and maintenance guidelines tailored specifically for religious institutions. “In addition to providing detailed practical action steps, these Guidelines will be framed within a theological, ethical context,” said Rabbi Lawrence Troster, GreenFaith’s Rabbinic Scholar who is drafting an interfaith theological statement for the project. “We hear regularly from houses of worship planning their own building campaigns, with leaders of these efforts interested in learning how to green their house of worship’s construction consistent with their values,” said the Rev. Fletcher Harper , GreenFaith’s Executive Director. “Until now, there have been no detailed green building guidelines designed specifically for religious facilities. Thanks to Building in Good Faith, that will change.” HBN, a nationally-respected green building advocate, helped lead a similar effort with leaders in the healthcare industry to develop the Green Guide for Healthcare, the first health-based green guidelines developed for healthcare facilities such as hospitals and health clinics. “We believe that sectors of society like the religious sector and the healthcare sector can play an important role in transforming the building market in the US ,” said Bill Walsh, HBN’s founder and National Coordinator. “We’re thrilled to be working with GreenFaith on Building in Good Faith.” HBN’s Green Guide for Healthcare is based upon the nationally-respected LEED Rating System of the US Green Building Council (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), but is strengthened and adapted for a healthcare setting and framed in the context of the healthcare field’s values and mission. Building in Good Faith will do the same for religious institutions. Buildings, inside of which the average US citizen spends approximately 90% of her time, currently have an enormous negative environmental impact. According to the highly-respected Rocky Mountain Institute, buildings consume one third of the total energy used in the US and two thirds of all electricity, making them major contributors to air pollution and global warming. One quarter of all wood harvested for use in the US goes into buildings, which means that building construction often accelerates deforestation, degrades habitat, and worsens water quality. The construction of the average 1800 square foot home in the US creates seven tons of waste which ends up in landfills, where between 15-40% of what is deposited is construction-related trash. In addition, many toxic products are routinely used in building and renovation projects, even when there are environmentally healthy alternatives. “The Building in Good Faith Guidelines will offer religious institutions a better way to construct and manage their buildings,” Harper said. “More and more religious leaders want to build and renovate in a way that supports life. These Guidelines will make that possible.” GreenFaith has assembled a National Working Group of religious and environmental leaders and green building experts to review the BGF Guidelines as they are developed. Working Group members include representatives of national groups such as the National Council of Churches and the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, respected regional groups such as the interfaith Chicago-based Faith in Place and the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, and religious institutions and architects that have conducted successful LEED-certified building and renovation projects like the Roman Catholic Felician Sisters in Coraopolis, PA, the Harrisburg, PA-based St. Stephen’s Episcopal Cathedral, and an architect of Buddhist centers in the Midwest and West Coast. “The Working Group members bring a wealth of experience to the table,” said Walsh. When the BGF Guidelines are complete, GreenFaith, Working Group members and a soon-to-be-assembled national Advisory Council will publicize them widely. Buildings designed to meet LEED standards offer remarkable savings in operational costs. The average LEED-certified building, for instance, uses 70-90% less energy than traditionally-constructed buildings. Green buildings also emphasize the increased use of natural light, better indoor air quality, and greater temperature comfort. These features have been demonstrated to increase children’s learning rates in green-built schools and worker productivity in green-designed office spaces. The US EPA reported in 1996 that building-related illness cost the US economy over $60 billion in lost productivity, not to mention the decrease in human well-being that results from “sick building syndrome.” The LEED standards also focus attention on the source of building materials, rewarding builders who purchase timber from sustainably-managed forests instead of environmentally valuable old-growth or tropical regions. “What we are doing with Building in Good Faith is offering a new way of understanding and defining what sacred space is,” said Rabbinic Scholar Troster. “Through their buildings, we want religious institutions to redefine the way we think about the earth.” Updates will be posted on this website as the project progresses.
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