"LEED" - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and it's the most widely accepted stamp of approval to certify that a building's green. LEED provides standards to look for when building or buying a house, helping us determine what's really green. LEED buildings - which take into account the site, water, energy, resources, and indoor environmental quality - reduce CO2 by 30%-40%. Green buildings typically cost more to build intially, but you will recoup your costs with lower utility bills. Fewer than 1,000 homes have been LEED certified so far by the U.S. Green Building Council.

U.S. Green Building Council
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19

Green Home Guide
http://www.greenhomeguide.org/

Green Building Certification Institute
http://www.gbci.org/

Organic VS. Locally Grown

I noticed the last time that I was at Wild Oats http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/wildoats/ that they offered both organic and locally grown produce. Call me crazy, but wouldn't purchasing locally grown produce make less of an impact on the environment than produce organically grown in Peru? Just a random thought!