This is the 5th year SFI has participated in the USGBC’s Green Build Expo, and over the years the SFI team has spent countless hours in the exhibit hall talking with architects, developers, and policy makers, among others, about sustainability, about the important role of forest certification, and about the evolution of green building.

It is clear to see there really is an evolution – not just for innovative products and building systems, but evolution in people’s environmental consciousness. Across the board, willingness to incorporate sustainability into our lives and adopt workable measures to protect the environment is increasing.

For example, since 2000, membership at the USGBC has more than tripled, and the market value of green building is projected to keep drastically rising as well. According to McGraw-Hill Construction, the green building market at comes in at around $12 billion value in 2008 and the report projects growth to $60 billion value by 2010. (As an aside, we did a special insert with McGraw-Hill and BusinessWeek magazine about mainstreaming “green” and construction – you can download it here: http://www.sfiprogram.org/files/pdf/feature-businessweek-2008.pdf )

For SFI we’ve seen double and triple digit growth across our program. We now have close to 150 million acres of land certified across North America, and over 320 Chain of Custody Certificates. For the year 2007, we calculated a 386% increase in CoC certificates, and with 2008 nearly over, I can assure you that momentum is strong!

The movement is clearly growing.

These programs and organizations themselves are changing too. For SFI, a clear example of how we reflect emerging public values and adapt to new information and science is our public review process which happens every five years. You can learn more about that on our site here: http://www.sfiprogram.org/standard-development-process.php

And as I am sure you all know, the USGBC is considering revising their system to recognize numerous forest certification programs, including SFI. If you didn’t catch it already, you can read my blog post about LEED and SFI here: http://www.goodforforests.com/archives/89

While we’ve participated in the USGBC show as exhibitors for a number of years, today I had the honor of addressing the crowd and introducing a long-time champion of green building, Architect Stefan Behnisch. The USGBC have posted a videostream of the session – you can watch it here: http://www.greenbuild365.org/GreenExpoVideoDetail.aspx?GreenExpoID=19

In addition to being the founding member of international design firm Behnisch Architekten and US-based Behnisch Architects, Mr. Behnisch has lectured at universities around the world. His approach to sustainable architecture is highly acknowledged in Europe and all over the world. He was recently deemed “Environmental Champion” by EnvironDesign Journal and Interiors & Sources and his buildings have been honored by prestigious institutions and industry organizations alike.

I was interested to read some of Stefan’s views on sustainability. In one interview, he said that sustainability is “not a miracle, or secret science, but is mostly common sense and a significant amount of work and effort.” He also said that architecture and environmental responsibility are eternally meshed and “all architects should be practicing responsibly.” I couldn’t agree more.

By the way, have a look at the new ad we launched at GreenBuild: http://www.sfiprogram.org/files/pdf/ads/ad-solidwood-twoways.pdf. It is one of my favourites for sure.

I’m Kathy Abusow, president & CEO of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Inc.  This is my first blog, and I’m excited about its prospects.  I’m looking forward to discussing the issues facing forestry today and also to engaging in a dialogue with visitors, not only about certification and sustainability, but how they can be active participants in the health of our forests.  

I have always had a great appreciation for the beauty of the forests.  We love them for the recreation, environmental and spiritual benefits they bring to our lives. At the same time, they provide important products for our every day lives – products like lumber for our homes, paper for the books we read and packaging for some of our favorite products.  But it’s critical that our forests are managed in a way that preserves their abundance for future generations.  That is what the SFI Program is about and I am proud to be leading it.

Across North America, there are 150 million acres (60 million hectares) certified to the SFI standard, meaning these forests are being managed to conserve wildlife habitat, species at risk, water quality and much more.  It also means that the environment is being protected and trees are being replanted in areas that were harvested.  

SFI and other forest certification standards have helped stimulate tremendous progress in managing our forests.  But we still have a long way to go.  Only 10% of the world’s forestland is certified.   We need to raise that amount ever year.  Businesses and consumers can do their part by purchasing forest products that come from certified forests.  

So, that is my first post.  Please feel free to comment and/or send me questions!