Information is power

John Knott

The screen saver on John Knott’s computer rotates through images of his seven (and soon-to-be eight) grandchildren. It’s a constant reminder to the third-generation builder of the impact of his life’s work on future generations.

Knott participated in the closing plenary of Tuesday’s Materials and Human Health Summit at the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Greenbuild 2013 conference held this week in Philadelphia. It was there Sustainable Industries sat down with the visionary entrepreneur, who is founder of CityCraft Ventures, chairman of The Noisette Foundation, and developer of the 1,200-acre Dewees Island oceanfront retreat dedicated to environmental preservation near Charleston, SC.

Now 67, Knott was this spring named the first executive director of the Health Product Declaration Collaborative – a serendipitous fit, according to his peers, for Knott has held the health of the built environment in the core of his work for more than four decades.

While green building pioneers have toiled for years to quantify and market the myriad health and societal benefits of greener built environments, recent developments such as the rise of the HPD Collaborative, formation of the Building Health Initiative within the USGBC’s Northern California Chapter, and the doubled-down focus on healthy buildings at this year’s Greenbuild conference signal that the healthy building movement is right now the industry’s crusade du jour. When it comes to the health of the building environment, Knott notes, no one has more liability than the developer-builder.

A handful of approaches taken by the HPD Collaborative proved especially alluring to Knott, who says he has helped quadruple the organization’s financial backing since he took its helm six months ago and began conspiring with its active board. For one, in developing a global platform for transparent disclosure of the complexity of ingredients and chemicals in building materials, the HPD Collaborative has developed a language others can build on.

It’s not as linear as other trending acronyms such as EPDs (environmental product declarations) or LCAs (life cycle analysis). It’s not inherently judgmental like The Pharos Project. The HPD Collaborative is aiming to bring together the full ecosystem of the built environment. Knott likens its role in the ecosystem to the coral structure – “that which gives life and connectivity, supporting the health of the ecosystem, which in turn supports our health.”

It’s not competing with the USGBC or other major players; just recently the Cradle to Cradle Certified program announced it will be working with the HPD Collaborative as its source language. The two organizations “have a common goal of abundant, beneficial materials and products in the marketplace,” C2C’s William McDonough told Metropolis. “These are two complementary approaches to support this evolution.”

“Our entire mission is organized around the ‘Collaborative’ in our name as a key plank,” Knott said. “We’re playing the role of collaborative integrator … instead of everyone competing.”

Knott says he’s seen more competitiveness within the sustainability space than nearly anywhere else. “Everyone's trying to take over everyone,” he said.

Short of perhaps a lack of resources with more egos vying for them, Knott prefers not to speculate on why. But combine this counterproductive competition with the influence of financial markets on development trends transforming long-term holds to three- to five-year flips, and you’ve got some serious obstacles for sustainable building.

That’s why it takes a sense of humility, Knott said. “It’s okay to say there are things we don’t know… We have a long way to go to turn the tide toward greater sustainability. The more we educate, the more we improve.”

Greenbuild’s Materials and Human Health Summit was unique in bringing a critical mass of manufacturers into the same room with designers, Scott Horst, USGBC’s senior vice president of LEED, told attendees at the summit’s closing plenary, which featured Knott. More than 200 manufacturers are now working with the HPD Collaborative’s online tool. With an aggressive global push, Knott said he hopes to grow the organization to 10,000-15,000 members in two years.

“We are on a journey of building knowledge…,” Knott said. “Our goal is to build a climate of disclosure that is business as usual for the built environment.”

In an anecdote possibly inspired by his grandchildren, Knott highlighted the amount of attention given to the harmful ingredients traditionally found in something as simple as a baby swaddle. He added: “Now how about the wrap of a building?”

Slideshow photo by jacqueline.poggi.

[source: http://www.sustainableindustries.com/articles/2013/11/information-power]