It is the week between Christmas and New Year’s, which can only mean one thing: bloggers are getting lazy and doing "best of" posts.
At this year’s Greenbuild, I had the pleasure of meeting Tristan Roberts for the first time. I have been reading Tristan’s content at BuildingGreen.com for some time. I am highlighting one particular article he did regarding the reaction to Henry Gifford’s class action lawsuit against the US Green Building Council. Tristan put words to a thought I had been having for some time: the reaction to the lawsuit was swift and fierce. Below is Tristan’s description but I would also suggest you click through to his full article to read the fascinating summary of reactions that he put together.
In the years that I’ve been reporting for Environmental Building News, I can’t think of another news story that has drawn as much immediate and widespread interest as our recent coverage of the filing of a $100 million class-action suit against USGBC for allegedly defrauding the building industry based on misrepresentations of the performance of LEED-certified buildings. I interviewed several of the parties involved, including the lead plaintiff, Henry Gifford.
The merits of the lawsuit itself aside (and it’s got problems, as noted in the EBN article), I have found it particularly striking how many people have used the news as a flashpoint for complaining about LEED and USGBC. Following are some of the more reasoned opinions from around the Web that are generally anti-USGBC and anti-LEED:
