As a New Yorker, I have spent the majority of my life following the city’s pulse, and growing in the shadow of its skyscrapers and trees. I know the energy and physical spaces of New York City intimately and I’m familiar with its exhilarating and test-to-the-soul challenges. Despite the lack of nature and competitive environment, I am not the only environmentalist in New York City.

As a building practitioner, I know that New York City poses a myriad of unique challenges to any designer, builder, and owner. Tight spaces, centuries-old infrastructure, and high costs are but a few, so it’s no surprise that the industry hasn’t jumped at the idea of The Living Building Challenge (LBC). However, it’s not yet known that our daily experiences make New Yorkers ideal participants in the Living Building Challenge naturally because of our independence, resourcefulness, and resilience.

Several players are hitting the pavement with this New York state of mind at “The Living Product Challenge and Living Building Challenge: a Panel in New York City.” The New York City LBC Collaborative and my organization, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), hosted the event attended by roughly 60 people.

Numerous organizations see the LBC as an inspiration for challenging the status quo by turning typical commercial offices into beautiful, regenerative places rather than a roadblock.

Here is a recap of the speakers’ messages at the event:

New York Living Building Challenge Collaborative

Jennifer Preston of BKSK Architects framed New York City as a dynamic laboratory for sustainability strategies. The city offers unique opportunities and incredible scalability to test regenerative solutions, due to its world status and similarities to where the majority of the world’s population lives.

International Living Future Institute (ILFI)

James Connelly set the tone with a comprehensive introduction to the Living Building Challenge materials philosophy, and the story behind the emergence of the Living Product Challenge. He connected the dots between products and climate change in a way that resonated with the audience and framed the importance of tackling the manufacturing world as imperative goals for environmentalists. Not one person left the room with any doubt that fighting for healthy materials is a pivotal part of addressing climate change.

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

NRDC has a strong history of sustainable construction initiatives backed by our mission to safeguard the planet and its people. As the manager of four LBC tenant improvement renovations for NRDC, I discussed our evolution of further aligning our actions with our mission through the incorporation of the LBC Materials Petal. With offices located in dense urban areas, we are in pursuit of proving that the Living Building Challenge is not limited to buildings with ample space. We found that the Materials Petal is very realizable and has incredible reach that ripples outward through the supply chain. Not only are we going to continue following the LBC as a guidepost for all procurement decisions but we are also seizing the opportunity to improve the lives of NRDC staff and people everywhere.

Etsy

Hilary Young, who works on Sustainability + Social Innovation for Etsy, talked about their new headquarters in Brooklyn designed to the LBC Materials Petal Certification standard. If I had to describe Etsy’s sustainability approach in two words they would be ‘community’ and ‘resourcefulness,’ traits crucial for tackling climate change. They used the pre-existing features of their new building and materials from their previous office – a truly urban solution – to offset the need to mine virgin materials. Etsy took on the Materials Petal on the largest scale of any New York project. It applies to their 200,000 plus square foot space and extends to many of their ‘makers,’ who were trained to build furniture and other features to meet the LBC requirements. Like many New Yorkers, Etsy understands that ‘community’ is a solution to many complex sustainability challenges.

Delos

Delos, a consultancy aimed at helping clients achieve the Well Being standard, demonstrated that they are truly passionate about nurturing building occupants and the environmental impact of their actions. They are taking on the monumental task of targeting WELL, LEED v4 and the Living Building Challenge Materials Petal Certification for their new headquarters in the meatpacking district of Manhattan. Janna Wandzilak, Senior Sustainability Consultant at Delos, explained that they are taking on the trifecta of building certifications to make their own space exemplary, and to explore the synergies among the certifications to better advise their clients.

In true New York fashion, this work is ground breaking. I’m proud of these Empire State visionaries. We are building a compelling case for transforming our urban built environments into living, regenerative spaces so that as society migrates into cities, we can cohabitate with nature.

The companies below are examples of industry disrupters that will be at the Living Product Expo this September. Join us in Pittsburgh to learn how you can help transform your organization into a key influencer in human and environmental health. Register here.

Our homes are fraught with carcinogens. Endocrine disruptors, neurotoxins, and alaundry list of other types of harmful chemicals are likely in every room of your house. These toxins are in both the hygiene products in your medicine cabinet and also in the materials that make up your bathroom.

If a consumer was posed with the choice between a product that contains toxins or a comparable nontoxic product, one would imagine that the consumer would clearly choose the latter. Historically, chemical-free alternatives were not largely available, but recently, consumers are gaining ever-growing access to healthier options. Companies are learning that manufacturing healthy products is indeed marketable, cost effective, and a smart business practice.

You can now find healthier alternative products in standard retailers, ranging from household cleaners that contain innocuous ingredients like baking soda, to furniture that is free from halogenated flame retardant (HFRs) coatings.

Ingredients transparency gives consumers the option to make informed choices about the products they buy, and is a trend that is on the upswing. Below are a list of ten companies who are forging the craze toward a healthy materials economy.

1. Health Care Without Harm: Works to transform health care worldwide so that it reduces its environmental footprint, becomes a community anchor for sustainability and a leader in the global movement for environmental health. Robin Guenther, Senior Advisor at Health Care Without Harm, will be joining us at this year’s Expo as a keynote speaker and exploring the importance of health care architecture and materials health.
2. Humanscale: Humanscale, an ergonomic office products manufacturer, strives to improve health and comfort at work. Sustainability of both design and materials is at the heart of their work. Their commitment to sustainable products can be seen as they strive toward successfully completing the Living Product Challenge with their latest Diffrient Smart Chair and Float Table.
   
   
   
3. Tarkett: As a global leader in sustainable flooring solutions, Tarkett upholds a four part strategy within their mission: use better materials, practice resource stewardship, create people friendly spaces, and reuse and recycle. With their 2020 Sustainability Roadmap, Tarkett is moving forward with their commitment for a circular economy and will closely monitor progress and initiatives across the company through their four pillars.
4. Interface: The world’s largest manufacturer of modular carpet, Interface, is a catalyst in the redesign of the carpet industry. By moving away from petroleum intensive carpet and radically changing their production process, Interface products embody a commitment to sustainability. This commitment can be further witnessed in their bold new initiative Climate Take Back, a solutions based approach on climate change. 
5. Ecovative: A leading biomaterials company that grows high performance, Earth friendly materials, which unlike conventional synthetics, can have a positive impact on our planet’s ecosystem. Their natural Myco Foam Mushroom Packaging serves as a premium alternative to fabricated foam packaging.With mushroom materials, Ecovative is paving the way toward a green packaging industry.
   
6. Herman Miller: A globally recognized furniture manufacture, Herman Miller believes that effective design can elevate the human experience. Many of their innovations are inspired by collaboration with customers. Nemschoff, a Herman Miller company, provides innovative furnishings for healthcare and other high-use environments. They believe that people make a difference and design can improve the way we work, heal and live.
7. Skanska: As one of the world’s leading construction groups, Skanska builds for a better society and a sustainable future for people and communities. Skanska built the Bertschi Living Building Science Wing, a fully certified Living Building, and firmly believes in their role to lead through environmentally responsible innovation. Their Journey to Deep Green goes beyond formal compliance and serves as a strategic tool to measure and guide green activities.
   
   

   © Benjamin Benschneider

8. ZGF (Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP): A design firm focused on architecture, interior design and urban design. ZGF’s design philosophy is centered on its premise that design excellence should be reflected in every aspect of a building -its fit with the community, it’s function and relationships to its users, its building systems and its cost.
9. Owens Corning: Owens Corning develops, manufactures and markets insulation, roofing and fiberglass composites. Because expanding impact through sustainability is defined as a core value, Owens Corning’s products and people strive to make the world a better place. Their unbonded loosefill insulation for walls, attics, ceilings and floors, one of the world’s first certified Living Products, is both innovative and eco-friendly.
   
10. Architecture 2030: A non-profit established in response to climate change crisis by Ed Mazria in 2002. Their mission is to rapidly transform the built environment from a major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions to a central part of the solution to the climate crisis. By 2030, their goal is to move toward carbon-neutrality for individual buildings, districts, cities, and building products. 

You can learn more from these companies and other industry disrupters at the Living Product Expo this September. Join us in Pittsburgh to learn how you can help transform your organization into a key influencer in human and environmental health. Register here.

The Declare program, developed by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) in 2012, is an ingredients initiative for building products that is designed to shape a greener, healthier environment for construction workers, business employees, and customers alike. The Declare program operates through a label given to building products that shows a full list of ingredients, thereby exposing components that potential buyers and employers would not otherwise know were there. While most manufacturers keep their ingredients under wraps under the guise of “trade secrets,” leaving citizens in the dark when it comes to toxins in their homes and working environments, Declare brings those ingredients into the open.

Declare, like all ILFI programs, operates on a basis of transparency. The logic behind a transparency model suggests that providers and customers alike will be happier when no one’s trying to hide toxic chemicals in their paneling, framing, or insulation. Labeling those chemicals where they exist, after all, creates an incentive to remove them altogether and develop safer alternatives. In fact, the Declare label has already borne success in this regard: one company has quickly phased out PVCs in its plumbing products. Declare helps shape a healthier future for all people.

Declare uses the Red List, a catalogue of the world’s most toxic chemicals, in order to classify products. Product don’t necessarily have to be free of Red List ingredients–the immediate goal is transparency. However, if a manufacturer eradicates all Red List compounds from its product, it receives a special designation.

Operating like a nutrition label for the building industry, Declare brings to the fore the inner makeup of materials that surround people every day. In an ever-globalized world, Declare helps shape a transparent materials economy.

We sat down with Andrea Cooper, manager of the Declare program, to peer into the pillars of Declare and glimpse how it operates.

Question: Can you give me a brief purpose/goals statement for Declare?
Andrea Cooper: Declare is a transparency platform to help product specifiers select transparent building products that meet the most stringent health and ecological requirements.

Q: What is the Red List and what does it do?
AC: The Red List is the identification of the 22 worst-in-class chemical families. The Red List includes chemicals, compounds, and elements known to pose serious risks to human health and the greater ecosystem. These chemicals are a common occurrence in the building products industry and we believe that their use can be phased out through healthy substitutions and green chemistry practices.

As it relates to the Living Building Challenge, the Red List serves to guide product manufacturers, specifiers, and purchasers to healthier and ecologically responsible products. The Red List encourages sustainable innovation in the building products industry.

Q: How is Declare integrated within the Living Building Challenge (LBC), the Living Product Challenge (LPC) and the Living Community Challenge (LCC)?
AC: The Declare program was developed to directly support the material selection efforts of Living Building Challenge project teams. Declare labels report product California Department of Public Health (CDPH) compliance in support of the Healthy Interior Environment requirements; ingredients and references to Red List chemicals and applicable exceptions in support of the Red List requirements; Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) content and availability in support of the Responsible Industry requirements, final point of assembly in support of the Appropriate Sourcing requirements; and end-of-life options in support of the Net Positive Waste requirements. Additionally, incorporating Declare labels is a direct requirement of the Living Building Challenge and the growth of the Declare database supports the integration of Declare products into projects.

Involvement in the Declare program is a requirement of the Red List Imperative within the Living Product Challenge, a core Imperative. The Living Product Challenge is a multi-attribute product certification program, which directly supports and furthers the Declare program’s mission of healthy product chemistry, ecological responsibility, and transparency.

Declare products can also be specified in the Living Materials Plan used by Living Community Challenge projects to meet the Red List requirements. Declare can be specified in the project Master Planning documents to encourage health and ecological responsible product selection at both the building and community or campus scale.

Q: How many total Declare labels are issued?
AC: There are over 400 Declare labels from 15 Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) MasterFormat Divisions and 87 manufacturers, representing thousands of unique products.

Q: Can you share an inspiring anecdote about a company that recently applied for a Declare label?
AC: TOTO USA applied for multiple Declare labels for their plumbing fixtures. Inspired by the Living Building Challenge Red List requirements, they re-engineered many of their flush fixture products to remove PVC. PVC components were replaced with Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer. TOTO USA now has 25 Declare labels, 13 of which have achieved Red List Free of LBC Compliant Declare status. Many manufacturers are following in the footsteps of TOTO and working to evaluate and redesign their products to reduce and eliminate the occurrence of Red List ingredients.

Q: Do you see manufacturers encouraging others in the industry to register Declare labels?
AC: One of the biggest hurdles for many manufacturers interested in Declare is obtaining transparent ingredient lists from their supply chains. We are witnessing many manufacturers successfully advocating within their supply chain to join Declare. There are more coating, binder, and small component manufacturers reaching out about their interest in Declare. This will open up Declare for many new building product manufacturers; they are looking to these transparent component manufacturers to create a more transparent supply chain for their own products.

Q: Are unexpected businesses catching on?
AC: I wouldn’t say there are unexpected businesses catching on, but the rate at which many manufacturers commit to Declare is surprising. It is not uncommon for us to receive a commitment from a manufacturer to submit twenty or more products for Declare (at once).

Manufacturers are taking notice! Much of this growth can be attributed the advocacy work of our Living Building Challenge teams. Many manufacturers are learning about Declare through conversations with project team members. They understand the growing demand for transparent and healthy products. Manufacturers want to actively support the efforts of the most sustainable design and construction projects in the world.

Q: Can you talk about the significance of Declare’s acceptance into LEED v.4?
The Declare program’s acceptance as a documentation method for Option 1 of the LEED v4 Building Product Disclosure and Optimization, Materials Ingredients credit expands the program’s audience and speaks volumes to the importance of the core mission of Declare: Material Health and Transparency. Acknowledgement by the USGBC supports the specification of healthy, transparent products beyond those projects attempting certification under the Living Building Challenge and further rewards those manufacturers who have joined Declare in support of the transparency movement. Acceptance into LEEDv4 also allows project teams attempting both the Living Building Challenge Materials Petal and LEED to streamline their product selection and documentation efforts; those products highlighted in the Declare database now support both certification paths.

Q: How do you read a Declare label?
AC: The top portion of a Declare label features the product name, manufacturer, final point of assembly and end-of-life options. The information in the top portion clearly identifies the product and highlights the relevant information for the Living Building Challenge Living Economy Sourcing and Net Positive Waste Imperatives. The middle portion of the label includes the product ingredients, organized by component. Ingredients on the Red List are highlighted in red text and ingredients on other chemical of concern lists are highlighted in orange. The center of the label also references the applicable product exceptions and their corresponding components. The bottom of the Declare label includes the Declare ID, label expiration date, and Declare status.

Products with a Declare status of Red List Free have been designed without any Red List ingredients and do not rely on any Living Building Challenge exceptions to demonstration compliance. LBC Compliant products meet the written requirements of the Living Building Challenge using one or more published exceptions. Both Red List Free and LBC Compliant labels can be used by Living Building Challenge project teams without any additional research or documentation. Declare status products are fully transparent, but contain one or more Red List ingredients not currently covered by existing program exceptions. Declare status manufacturers have committed to the transparency movement and their products comply with the LEEDv4 documentation.