Know the Lingo: Green Home Building & Design Terms

It's apparent that many people selling green or eco-friendly home building materials and products have no clue as to what constitutes GREEN, eco-friendly, organic, and sustainability. Here are definitions of some of the big buzzwords in the green movement, all to help you make better buying decisions when you face your next home building, remodeling, or design project.

ORGANIC: of or relating to foodstuff grown or raised without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides or hormones; e.g., organic eggs, organic vegetables, and organic chicken. The term is also used to describe something simple and healthful and close to nature, as in an organic lifestyle. You'll find organic fibers used in furniture and fabrics, like organic silk.

CRUELTY FREE: a product that doesn’t contain any part of an animal, eliminating material obtained from an animal by means of cruelty and/or anything made with child labor or in a sweatshop anywhere in the world.

Examples include veal or any other food obtained from animals raised or kept on factory farms, or any products made in a Third World sweatshop. Remember the Kathy Lee Gifford controversy about her clothing line made in Central America?

VEGAN: a product that is not derived from an animal and/or animal by-product. A vegan person is someone who eats and wears nothing derived from animals; this includes any dairy, meat, seafood, leather, silk, honey.

Examples of vegan products include faux leather and cotton fabrics for furnishings, and soy and palm wax candles. The Couchoid chairs on the right feature vegan upholstery, a "cow-friendly" leather look-alike fabric.

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE: products made in facilities that practice Fair Trade and are environmentally responsible. Products can also include products made from a labor force that is “disadvantaged,” i.e. women, mentally challenged, or workers in war-torn areas.

SUSTAINABLE: a product capable of being continued with minimal long-term effect on the environment. This is key in all aspects of the life cycle of any product.

Examples include anything (building materials, furniture, fabrics, upholstery, linens, etc.) made from bamboo, cork, soy, or organic cotton. The Cork Family tables by Jasper Morrison pictured here are great examples of sustainable furniture, as the cork bark stripped from trees will grow back.

LIFE CYCLE: this refers to the notion of a fair, holistic assessment of a product from all perspectives, including taking into consideration the raw materials used in its production, all manufacturing processes, all distribution (including all intervening transportation steps necessary or caused by the product's existence), its use, and its disposal. The sum of all those steps, or phases, is the life cycle of the product.

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