Several events that occurred in November point out that green is growing up. After its birth in the 1960s as a barefoot earthchild, spending a scrappy adolescence in the 1970s as a Serious Cause—replete with passive heating, organic diets, and “coolth tubes” (remember those?)—and recent decades as a trend manqué, the design and construction culture seems to be getting the green message.

Sustainability, freed from cult status, has matured into a standard that underlies the expectation of all design. Bolstered by scientists from organizations such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, architects now know that their work has immense impact on the environment, consuming 70 percent of electricity in this country, twice the energy consumption of cars and trucks. Our structures contribute one third of total carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere, a sobering fact when confronting global warming’s effects, which include the melting of polar ice caps or glaciers and an increase in storm activity. While some stubborn few still dismiss carbon emissions as the culprit, no one can dispute the skyrocketing costs of energy. We all live in a world where oil prices routinely hit (and have exceeded) $60 per barrel.