Brent is the products and materials specialist at BuildingGreen, where he researches and writes about green building products, materials, and their health and environmental impacts. He also leads a team of editors who select industry-leading products for the company’s green building product database. A LEED AP BD+C, he has been researching and writing about green building for more than a decade, but has also taught college composition, copy edited science journals, worked as a carpenter, managed a large commercial kitchen, and held various other occupations.

Last week was great for learning about positive approaches to solving our collective climate change problems. First, I attended the MassImpact: Cities and Climate Change symposium at MIT on Friday (March 28, 2008).

"Can a four-level house with a three-car garage and a kitchen full of energy-hungry Sub-Zero and Wolf appliances truly qualify as a model of environmental responsibility?

Photo by Douglas Healey for The New York Times

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"Instead of waiting for green roofs to come to the Twin Cities [St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota] as a product for mass consumption, RoofBloom was created to empower individuals with the knowledge and materials needed to install green roofs themselves.