able future when it is no longer necessary to distinguish between green design and good design, when anything but sustainable building will be considered out of the ordinary, and in fact, will be frowned upon as cheap and short sighted. Recognizing that our built environment has major impact on natural systems is the first step toward this end; the understanding that human systems and the natural world are intertwined in such a way that what we do to one, we do to the other is beginning to manifest itself in the form of better building practices across the country. Design is primarily driven by the desire to improve quality of life. Whether it occurs at the grass roots level or government level, environmentally minded design is intensely centered on this goal. Individual citizens have major impact on the marketplace, but government has the ability to raise the bar to a higher level in that it can affect policy making and laws through its own actions and commitments. When planning and constructing new buildings, government entities can simultaneously enhance their stewardship of public resources, both financial and natural, through a sustained reduction of operating costs while providing environmental leadership as a net benefit. It is in this context that the goals of good design and government’s purpose coincide in an extraordinary way to provide for the rights and common good of society as a whole over the long haul.

For over a thousand years, the Iroquois Nation has lived by the declaration that “in our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” In fact, our own system of government owes a great debt to the Iroquois form of representational democracy, that inspired Jefferson, Madison and Franklin in their conception of the US Constitution. This notion of a long term relationship between governance and ecological health served as the foundation of an entire culture, and in fact, the sensitivity to future generations’ rights defined the very context of policy making. In the modern world, sustainable development and green building are the current medium for this practice. Waste stream reduction (or elimination), water efficiency and quality, energy efficiency and alternative energy usage, resource efficiency and forest stewardship are a few of the touchstones that signal the intention to respect the rights and needs of our descendants. However, this does not demand a compromise of provisions for the