Lunchtime Learning (Virtual)
Virtual Lunchtime Learning sponsored by the Committee on the Environment (COTE)
First Safe, then Circular: optimizing material health with Cradle to Cradle Certified®
If you are being asked to evaluate the material health of products and aren’t sure where to start, this session is for you! We’ll dive into the basics of material health for designers, including major classes of chemicals of concern, chemical assessments, and how designers can use certifications as they evaluate products. This presentation details the methodology and requirements for the Cradle to Cradle Certified® products program and how designers can use it to specify materials that are healthy in a project and across a supply chain. We’ll explore how Cradle to Cradle Certified®, as a fully digitized program, makes it easy for designers to find reliable material health information to deliver meaningful sustainability benefits on every project.
Speaker: Ren DeCherney, Director of Built Environment
Ren is a licensed interior designer who uses her first-hand experience of the complexities of the building industry to help designers and manufacturers translate their sustainability pledges into reality.
Prior to joining the Institute as Director of Built Environment, she worked in Portland as a designer, where she took her firm PVC-free, making them the first firm in Portland to make such a commitment. She was then the Director of Industry Transparency at Source, a digital materials platform, where she synthesized design team needs and industry trends to integrate sustainability seamlessly into the design process. This included building various user tools, growing strategic partnerships, and developing all of the sustainability filters on the platform.
She then worked at the International Living Future Institute, overseeing the Declare and Living Product Challenge programs. There she worked with both designers and manufacturers to understand the current market incentives for sustainable practices and how to implement sustainability strategy into everyday practices.
AIA Credit: pending
GBCI Credit: self-report
