Credible Forest Certification

· Reuters: "USGBC Wood Policy Stands"

December 9, 2010 -- While the status quo remains intact for now -- only products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council are recognized under the rating system -- don't expect the issue over LEED credit for wood products to fade away.

· The New York Times: "For Sustainable Wood, a New and Unloved Standard"

October 22, 2010 -- Next week, the USGBC begins casting ballots on whether or not to adopt new standards that would open up LEED certification to any timber certification system that meets a series of sustainability benchmarks.

· Seattle Magazine: "How Green is Thy Lumber?"

October 11, 2010 -- Seattle's green building community questions which wood certification system is good enough for LEED seal of approval.

· Valley Advocate: "Who Decides What's Sustainable?"

May 13, 2010 -- As many as one in every five new homes and a quarter of municipal buildings and office towers are expected to qualify as "green" buildings two years from now. But what does that really mean?

· Seattle Times: "LEED green-building standards must not be diluted"

April 12, 2010 -- The U.S. Green Building Council sets standards for environmentally superior buildings and must not dilute the value of its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design label, writes guest columnist Denis Hayes.

· The Green Building Battles

March 3, 2010 -- As eco-friendly building takes off, the fight is on to define what it means to be green.

· Seattle Times: "Group fights Weyerhaeuser's use of 'green' certification"

February 21, 2010 -- WFLC seeks to revoke Weyerhaeuser's SFI “green” certification for failure to protect water, soil and other resources. In a complaint filed last fall, WFLC alleges the company engaged in high-risk logging of unstable slopes—slopes that shed hundreds of landslides during an intense December 2007 rainstorm that triggered widespread downstream flooding.

· Daily Journal Newswire: "Wave of Litigation Over 'Greenwashing' Poised to Break"

February 10, 2010 -- As more companies market their businesses to take advantage of growing consumer demand for earth-friendly products, legal battles are erupting over the veracity of such claims.

· Daily Astorian Editorial: "Business as usual just cannot continue"

October 26, 2009 -- Forest certification program must have legitimacy.

· Architecture Week: "High Tension over Big Timber"

October 23, 2009 -- Late in 2007, storm-driven rains in outhwestern Washington sent floodwater, mud, and tons of logging debris crashing into homes and farmland downstream of the Chehalis River. Numerous landslides destroyed wide swaths of mountain habitat, caused hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage, and downed an estimated 140,000 truckloads of timber — much of it on land owned by the Weyerhaeuser Company, the state's largest private timberland owner.

· The New York Times: "Environmental Groups Spar Over Certifications of Wood and Paper Products"

September 12, 2009 -- For more than a decade, the nonprofit Forest Stewardship Council generally has been viewed as the premier judge of whether a wood or paper product should be labeled as environmentally friendly. But to the dismay of major environmental groups, that label, known as F.S.C., is facing a stiff challenge from a rival certification system supported by the paper and timber industry. At stake is the trust of consumers in the ever-expanding market for “green” products.

· Architecture Week: "FSC Versus SFI"

August 12, 2009 -- The battle between rival forest certification systems FSC and SFI is crescendoing in a showdown over recognition in the LEED system, the preeminent green building standard in the U.S.

· Tyee: "The War Over Eco-Certified Wood"

June 3, 2009 -- When it comes to buying nature-friendly wood, two stamps of approval vie, with vast forests at stake. Which will win out? Big timber firms back the one critics call greenwashing.

· Seattle Times: "The fight over what "green" means"

March 12, 2008 -- It was the People's Choice and Best in Show in the 2007 Street of Dreams, the Best in American Living for 2007, according to the National Association of Home Builders, and the first home in Snohomish County to earn a five-star rating as a Built Green home. But with 4,750 square feet, a four-car garage and a location in a rural area where subdivisions aren't supposed to sprawl, was it really green?

· Seattle Times: "Homebuilders, critics disagree about what construction deserves environmental label"

March 4, 2008 -- There is no single standard for green construction. So-called green construction can bring a premium price, experts say — up to 5 percent more in large projects — so it's not hard to see the economic incentive. In Washington, total market share for green buildings is about 11 percent, including both the public and private sectors, and it's growing fast, said Rachel Jamison, green-building coordinator for the state Department of Ecology.

· Environmental Building News: "Groups Challenge Timber Companies Under SFI Rules"

February 1, 2007 -- In separate actions in December 2006, two environmental groups asked the Sustainable Forestry Initiative®, Inc. (SFI) to take member companies to task for their ecologically damaging logging practices.

· The NewStandard: "Green-stamping of Timber Companies Comes Under Scrutiny"

January 12, 2007 -- Conservationists say a major certifier of environmentally “sustainable” foresting practices in the US offers its approval too easily and is too hesitant to take action against firms that harm the environment.

· Boston Globe: "Groups oppose forest certification of Weyerhaeuser and Plum Creek"

December 31, 2006 -- Conservation groups are moving beyond the courtroom into the marketplace to pressure two of the nation's largest timber companies to green up their acts on private forest lands, and challenge the timber industry's sustainable forestry standard.

· Washington Post: "Two Timber Firms Pretending To Be 'Green,' Groups Allege"

December 24, 2006 -- Environmentalists Want Companies' Lucrative Certification Revoked