Nutrition labels allow shoppers to compare two bags of chips. The transparency movement seeks that level of transparency for building materials.

This is Part 2 in our series on transparency.

Part 1: Why We Care About Product Transparency

Part 3: The End of Greenwashing? Five Myths about Product Transparency

Building product transparency has been a hot topic in the design and construction world lately.

Pioneering manufacturers like InterfaceFLOR are releasing environmental product declarations (EPDs). Influential firms like Perkins+Will are gathering and publishing more data about what's really in our building materials (if you haven't seen the firm's new Transparency website, check it out here).

The LEED 2012 drafts are looking to incentivize transparency by offering credits for the use of products that have an EPD. We're also adding product transparency to GreenSpec as a searchable attribute to help you when specifying products.

As a companion to this month's EBN feature article, "The Product Transparency Movement: Peeking Behind the Corporate Veil," we've put together this fun four-minute video on what the transparency movement is all about. (Cheeky animations and soothing narration by our amazing sales administrator HB Lozito.)

We had a lot of fun making it, and folks have told us it's also fun to watch. Enjoy!