What is "Green" Building?

Several months ago I read an article in our local newspaper, The Grunion Gazette, about two homeowners in Long Beach who were planning to tear down their 1920s bungalow and replace it with a very environmentally sound home. They were looking for volunteers to help them build it because the costs of building green is so much higher than traditional materials.

When I read the article I was trilled that someone in Long Beach was bucking the trend. A friend of mine also saw the article and he thought about volunteering to help build because he's a believer in green building, too. My ultimate dream is to build a strawbale house here in Long Beach. People tease me about it but straw is an incredible green building material plus it costs less than manufactured green products. ("Manufactured" green products seems like an oxymoron to me.)

Yesterday I was driving around the area where this green house was being built and I decided to check out the progress. To my horror this 1920s bungalow was added to a landfill in order to be replaced by a monstrous 2-story square box that takes up almost the entire lot! I'm not an expert on green products but I can't see how this new gigantic structure that will be filled with environmentally sound finishes like bamboo floors and dozens of fluorescent lights could have less of an impact than a little bungalow.

"Green" seems to be a trendy excuse for replacing something that is perfectly functional or for charging more for a product that has minimal benefit.