David Gottfried gave a speech earlier this year at the convention of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA) that put me on the verge of upchucking. Gottfried is a developer and construction manager by background, and main founder of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the organization that has spearheaded the so-called “Green Building” movement. He's also one of the most self-righteous persons I've ever encountered. To hear him tell it, Mother Earth is on the road to hell and the only way to save it is to become an enlightened, morally superior environmentalist like him. It's hard to root against ecology, but suffering through a tree hugger's lecture brings one very close to wanting to level every last strand of rain forest out of spite.
Give him credit, though. Gottfried departs from many of his green brethren in that he is not anti-business. Plus, he is extremely smart. He has put his career and energy into a movement that has grown far beyond smarmy environmentalism. Eminently sensible people in all walks of the construction industry - including plenty within the plumbing and HVAC sectors - have embraced the USGBC message that it is in all of our interests to construct buildings that conserve water, energy and other precious resources, without significantly diminishing the creature comforts of modern life. “Sustainable design” is the buzzword used within the movement to describe buildings that incorporate ecological principles.