Natural Home Advisory Board Members Make Strides in Sustainability

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Natural Home Editorial Advisory Board member David Johnston (right) receives his International Sustainability Pioneer Award, along with International Sustainability Leader Award recipient Yogesh Chander Deveshwar and Dr. Claude Martin, one of the selection committee members (left). Courtesy What's Working, Inc.

Members of our editorial advisory board have been the recipients of some huge honors recently—and we want to celebrate with them! David Johnston, our sustainable building consultant, won the International Sustainability Pioneer Award (ISPA), often described in European business circles as “the Nobel Prize for Sustainability.” Gail Vittori, our building systems advisor, was elected chair of the U.S. Green Building Council. And The International Code Council (ICC) named editorial advisory board member David Eisenberg and the Development Center for Appropriate Technology (DCAT) the 2007 Affiliate of the Year for "consistently demonstrating integrity, professionalism and dedication to building code development, public safety and public service."

Frequent contributor David is the president and founder of What's Working, a sustainable building consultancy in Colorado. He was awarded the ISPA, which acknowledges personal excellence in implementing the principles of sustainability in the corporate sector. David established the first private-sector sustainable building program in Denver through his local Home Builder's Association. Today, it is the largest program in the private sector and was the catalyst for the National Association of Home Builders to develop national sustainable building guidelines. His company also was part of the team that launched LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for the U.S. Green Building Council. To read more about David's work and award, click here. 

Gail Vittori was elected the 2009 chair of the Executive Committee of the U.S. Green Building Council after several years of service. Gail was first elected in 2001. She served an initial 2-year term and was then re-elected for a 3-year term as secretary of the board.

David Eisenberg's work in promoting sustainability in building and building codes was honored by the ICC. "David's decades of work in green building education and code development for alternative building materials has helped make sustainability a common concept," says International Code Council Immediate Past President Wally Bailey. As chair of the U.S. Green Building Coucil's Code Committee, David played an important role in the joint efforts between the USGBC and the ICC to educate building officials about green building and to include green building practices into the codes. DCAT’s 10-year-old program, Building Sustainability into the Codes, has included a wide variety of activities and efforts to educate the building codes community about the full range of consequences, risks and responsibilities involved in safeguarding public health, safety and welfare in relation to the built environment. For more information on the program, visit www.dcat.net.