-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Letter from Scot Horst, Chair of the LEED Steering
Committee
Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 14:24:47 -0400
From: USGBC To: JGLAZER at gard.com

U.S. Green Building Council

Dear Engaged Participants:

The conversation we've been having since we started to work
on LEED 2009
has gone something like this:

Person A: ?Global warming doesn't give us much time.?
Person B: ?But we can't address much of anything, let alone
global
warming, if we're only dealing with a small fraction of the
entire built
environment. We need to get everyone involved.?
Person A: ?Yes, but why get them involved in a system that
doesn't take
them far enough to save us from ourselves? We need our
buildings to be
restorative.?
Person B: ?LEED can't save us from ourselves. LEED, as a
tool, can
engage the market in transformation. That transformation is
about
people. It is not about LEED credits.?
Person A: ?You're missing the point. We have to be tougher.
We have to
go beyond.?
Person B: ?No, you're missing the point. We have to find
ways to engage
a market that has never thought about these issues before.?
Persons A and B: ?Let's find a way to do both.?

These documents
try to
do just that. They incorporate new science and reflect a new
understanding of the priorities of our world. They
synthesize the
countless days and nights of conversations, thoughts and
ideas that have
been exchanged since the inception of LEED and then build
bold action
steps around them.

It's a response of big ideas: a restructuring of the system
that allows
it to be more nimble; a mechanism for incorporating
bioregional issues;
a framework that supports rapid response to changes in the
market and in
our environment; a process for introducing the new
technologies that
support those changes.

You won't see the full impact of these ideas until you see
how it all
fits together with the new LEED Online and the certification
process,
but these shifts allow us to begin to address how human systems
integrate with natural systems. Some of the changes are
purely technical
and some provide a platform for a new direction that will
dramatically
alter how we launch our collective concerns and common goals.

Provided here
are
redlined changes to the rating systems, new scorecards and a
framework
for the introduction of regional credits, along with background
documents that can help you understand how we got here.

You are being asked to fully engage as a participant in this
discussion
and tell us what you think. I, personally, can't wait to
hear what you say.

Yours,
Scot Horst

Scot Horst
Chair, LEED Steering Committee

The first, in a series of LEED 2009 Web casts, will begin on
Thursday,
May 22, 2009 at 11 AM ? 12 PM EST and 1 ? 2 PM EST. For more
information, click here
.

U.S. Green Building Council, 1800 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036

U.S. Green Building Council

--
Jason Glazer, P.E.