SB 5300′s proponents frame it as a bill to support Washington state forestry. While our elected officials sniff out the details and decide on their stamp of approval, Cascadia Green Building Council wants to lend a hand. Cascadia Green Building Council is one of the USGBC’s  largest regional councils. They are so big that they support their building rating system and certification body, the International Living Building Institute. have spoke on the ILBI in the past, on this blog. Cascadia is very active in regional policy, but very seldom do they make that known publicly. MORE >>

which promotes sustainable forestry. I am a big proponent of building "green" and by that I mean building well. Focusing on efficiency - from materials to energy that building right and smart is building green. Any "credenial" from that point on, be it LEED, Energy Star, EEBA, and on and on and so forth is superfluous. The costs associated with aquiring the credential, the time consumed, the points earned are often less about a buildings structure and ultimately performance and more about the Construction company, the Developer and the Architect and not the actual buidings occupants. MORE >>

Traditionally, rugged computers have been used by field workers operating in tough and naturally mobile environments such as logistics, geomatics, forestry, public transportation, construction, mining, public safety and military. The following article first appeared in Mobile Enterprise , and is excerpted here with permission. We are going through a radical shift in the way people work and use computers. Increasing availability and affordability of wireless broadband is giving the global workforce true mobility for the first time in history. Office Workers Embrace Rugged Devices. MORE >>

Australia introduces controversial carbon tax CARBON TAX 300 companies affected Agriculture, forestry and land are exempt Market-based trading scheme kicks in from 2015 Target to cut 159m tonnes of CO2 by 2020 Australia has introduced its highly controversial carbon tax, after years of bitter political wrangling. I just read this on BBC and it appears at least Australia is moving forward in greening our air. Its a come a long way from or will actually be the country we flee to as described in the eponymous book On the Beach. But instead of nuclear fallout we will be escaping dirty air. MORE >>

Sustainable Forestry InitiativeThat is the case made against the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, which has been in the cross hairs of the environmental group ForestEthics for two years. Kathy Abusow, president of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, took issue with ForestEthics’ charges. promotes responsible forestry and works with a range of conservation groups, government agencies and landowners and others to do so,” she wrote in an e-mail. Ah I used to love that show. There was nothing green about any of their acreage. The S.F.I. S.F.I. Instead, S.F.I. MORE >>