Defending LEED

Jason F. McLennan
Chief Executive Officer
Cascadia Green Building Council

This article by Jason F. McLennan was originally printed in the Spring '11 issue of Trim Tab, Cascadia Green Building Council's magazine for transformational people and design. View the full length article »

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Recently there has been a lot of attention drawn towards the USGBC (United States Green Building Council) and the LEED rating system that has been less than flattering. A frivolous lawsuit about what LEED "falsely promises" to people and increased vitriol to the standard in general. Well, I am here to defend LEED - which might surprise some. I think people sometimes mistakenly assume that I am anti-LEED because of my sometimes vocal criticism of elements of the program, as well as the fact that I created a program (the Living Building Challenge) that some consider to be in competition with LEED - which it most assuredly is not.

Do I think that LEED is perfect? Absolutely not. No system is perfect. And yes, some criticism is deserved - and needed to keep improving what has become the most dominant green building program in the world. But there is a big difference in criticism that is intended to make the program stronger - so that it can continue to contribute to lowering environmental impact and changing the building culture - and criticism that is intended to tear down and destroy something that I believe has done a lot of good in the world. The former is essential - if not always appreciated - the latter is destructive and typically self-serving of particular corporate or individual interests.

So here I am - coming to LEED's defense. To be clear, the USGBC did not ask me to write this article. If they had I probably would have declined. I am nobody's "yes" man and what should be clear by now is that Cascadia - as a chapter - does not "toe the line." We are an independent voice and the conscience of the movement - USGBC chooses to put up with us and we choose to remain a chapter, because together we are collectively stronger and we share the same mission.

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