A coalition of organizations is making green building practices and strategies a priority as Gulf Coast rebuilding efforts get under way. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the Enterprise Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, the Trust for Public Land, and others have announced initiatives and ideas developed to assist communities ravaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The opportunity to embed sustainable practices in rebuilding efforts will begin with a number of charrettes during the USGBC’s annual 2005 Greenbuild Conference & Expo in Atlanta on Nov. 9-11, 2005.
Thirty Gulf Coast community leaders will attend the proceedings, with Gulf Coast experts, government leaders, and Greenbuild attendees contributing. “This is about collaboration, partnership, and leadership,” says Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair, USGBC. “The rebuilding effort will be a Herculean task, and the USGBC is committed to providing our specific expertise to helping the citizens of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas reset roots and restore their communities as viable, vital, healthy, and productive places, as quickly as possible and in a way that supports them in the long run.”
Along with the 150 educational sessions, the hurricane reconstruction design workshops will cover the design of parks, infrastructure, ecological restoration areas, affordable housing, civic buildings, and the redesign of a destroyed K-12 school.
To find out more about the sustainable rebuilding efforts or Greenbuild, visit (www.usgbc.org).
