Greening the Heartland Documented

The 2008 Greening the Heartland conference is over. Yesterday marked the end of the three-day conference on sustainable practices in Midwestern architecture and urban design, held at America's Center in St. Louis.

Yet the conference still exists, at least online. A crack team of local bloggers documented the conference experience through videos, interviews with conference organizers, photographs of events, posts about green success stories and so forth. Thanks to their efforts, those who couldn't fly across the country or pay the registration fee can immerse themselves in the conference online. (No gasoline for travel or paper for printing required!)

Read the blog here.

St. Louis Passes First Green Building Law

Last week, the Board of Aldermen passed the city's first "green building" law.

Sponsored by Alderman Fred Wessels (D-13th) and President Jim Shrewsbury, Board Bill 323 mandates that all city-owned new construction and major renovation must be certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver or higher. (Read all about LEED here.)

The new law will be in effect for the next three city building projects, the two recreation centers being built with money raised by Proposition P as well as the Animal House.

Shrewsbury's office is also working on legislation to encourage green building in private construction and rehabilitation projects.