This Earth Day, Get Ahead of Greenwashing
Many manufacturers claim that their products are sustainable, but it can be difficult for interior designers to evaluate exactly what makes a material or furnishing healthy for people and better for the planet. NYSID Instructor and Alum Michelle Jacobson ’18 (MPSS) NCIDQ, WELL AP, LFA, ASID, Fitwel Ambassador, LEED AP ID+C, and Healthy Materials Advocate, teaches Color for Interiors, Residential Design II, and Sustainable Furnishings, Finishes and Materials at the College. She approaches all of her classes with a sustainability lens. She says, “I teach my students to ask certain questions. If the manufacturer doesn’t know what you are talking about or can’t give you any information about sustainability, then you know that the product is probably not sustainable.”
Jacobson’s list of questions is a great tool for interior designers who want to create transparency about the sustainability of materials they are specifying for clients. She shares them here:
What is the product made of? Are the materials sustainable/organic/fair trade?
Is the wood FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified?
Are there any recycled/upcycled/reusable materials involved in the making of the product?
What kind of foam is used? Are there any stain repellents or flame retardants?
Do you have an EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) or HPD (Health Product Declaration)? An EPD is a document that transparently communicates the environmental performance/impact of a product or material over its lifetime. An HPD is a document that provides information on the contents of the product and the potential health-related hazards of those contents.
Do you have a Declare label? A “Declare” product reports 100% of its ingredients.
Do you know if this item will negatively impact indoor air quality?
Do you know if the manufacturer reduces carbon emissions in its processes or its shipping?
What are your labor standards for fair labor/wages and human rights?
Do you try to reduce waste by limiting the packaging of your products?
Says Jacobson, who graduated from NYSID’s Masters of Professional Studies in Sustainable Interior Environments, “It’s critical to ask these questions, because interior designers have tremendous power to determine what is manufactured.”
Interested in becoming a leader in sustainable design?
NYSID’s one-and-a-half-year Masters of Professional Studies in Sustainable Interior Environments is geared toward working professionals. Classes happen in the evening and on weekends, and the program can be completed entirely online or in person. Students learn how to reduce the carbon footprint of the structures they are designing, and how to make them healthy and climate resilient. Throughout the program, there is abundant mentorship and guidance from sustainability experts working in the building industry. For more information contact MPSS Director David Bergman, at David.Bergman@nysid.edu