Sierra Club Hypocrisy?
29 07 2008
Not sure this is exactly news, but the Washington Business Journal sure does. Apparently the super green nonprofit Sierra Club is getting new office space in NoMa THAT ISN’T GREEN!
Well not exactly, they just won’t be getting LEED certification. While the important standard has done a lot for helping developers employ green practices, it certainly doesn’t mean that if you don’t have the certification, you don’t care about the environment. The Sierra Club’s offices in the new building at 111 K St. NE will in fact have numerous green technologies as well as energy efficient elements.
So what do you think, should we all silently judge them?
no. getting LEED certification for a building is not an easy, nor cheap, task. lots of forms and paperwork to fill out, and it takes time. however, it would be possible for them to apply for LEED status on their specific workplace if they wanted (and if it qualifies, which i’d hope it does!). check out the new LEED certification requirements at the USGBC to see how.
That’s true. NUSTAspa on 19th has a LEED certification even though the building does not.
Well what really counts is that the building itself is green. If you wanted to see a true hypocritical environmentalist building visit the National Wildlife Federation out in Reston. Their building is surrounded by pavement, and far from transit (even buses). The only good thing they do is not mow their grass (their reasoning, it encourages animals to live there and reduces carbon emissions).
re: Josh
Then why has the Sierra Club and their breatheren been all over the country pushing state and local zoning laws and like that require LEED certification for new and retrofit buildings?
Hypocrite is the correct word.
[…] just got word that the little not so green building at 111 K street now has one more tenant to add to it’s list. YWCA has signed on to […]