It’s hard to believe that we’re celebrating our 15th year of producing ED+C with this issue. Some of you, like me, have only been around for a part of the decade and a half, but others have been onboard since the beginning and have seen the magazine change from a quarterly to a bi-monthly and then to the only monthly trade magazine dedicated exclusively to sustainable design and construction.

Think about the first time you read an issue. What then was different from now? Did LEED exist? Were CFLs and LEDs easy to find on store shelves? Were people putting quotation marks around the word “green” to describe sustainability? Could all of the attendees at Greenbuild still fit at the Metropolitan Opera? The point is a lot of strides have been made in the past fifteen years — but we still have a long way to go.

Maybe it’s the fact that we’ve just celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day here in the U.S. as I write this, but I can’t help but see similarities between the push for green and other worthwhile movements. For all the humanitarian progress we’ve made, ugliness like discrimination, bigotry and stereotypes still exist. The struggles to overcome societal blemishes continue years after they began. While many of us would like to believe green has arrived, we should ask ourselves if that belief is borne out of connecting solely with other people operating in our own sustainable bubble.

While it doesn’t happen as frequently as it did when I first started, I still see more than my fair share of people publicly discussing their decisions that cause me to drop my head in despair. And I’m not talking about the usual policy makers who are more into grandstanding and ensuring their own agendas. I’m talking about everyday people.

I happened to stop on a community access channel just prior to the holidays. On this show, an elderly man and woman were discussing the “ban” on 100-watt incandescent bulbs. The gentleman described how he had been stocking up on the bulbs as opposed to switching to something more efficient because he knew “what is put in those new kinds of lights.” I tried calling in, but had no success. I was left shaking my head.

Associate editor Laura Zielinski pointed out an article in a local newspaper about people protesting their utility’s implementation of new smart meters. The protestors cited a number of reasons for their position, including RF waves and privacy about others knowing how much electricity their appliances used. And here I am trying to get one of these meters installed so that I can more easily pinpoint potential problems immediately. Again, I was left shaking my head.

Yeah, okay, I know I’m preaching to the choir here about continuing to make change. But we need to make that choir bigger. Each and every interaction readers like you have with someone unfamiliar with the benefits of sustainability is an opportunity — an opportunity to help someone else see the light. Share your green testimony. Spread the word!

Okay, I’m done with the religious clichés, but you get the point. There are still many people out there who are unaware of the benefits or are unwilling to see the benefits of sustainability. Sadly, I don’t think everyone will yet be on board with green come our 30th anniversary. But, again, think about the changes that have been made in these last 15 years. How much more do you think things will change in the next 15?

On behalf of everyone at ED+C, thank you for making this celebration possible.

Cheers,