Built Environment Plus

Health and Wellness Roundtable
2023-09-08 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Virtual Event
Join the BE+ Health and Wellness Roundtable, a venue for architects, designers, construction managers, and sustainability professionals to discuss issues related to healthy buildings.
Reach out to wellness@builtenvironmentplus.org with any inquiries, questions, or concerns.

*Roundtables are FREE for Built Environment Plus Members.
**New to the Roundtables? Join as a Newcomer, and come visit up to 3 times for FREE. After that, consider becoming a BE+ Member, or purchase general admission to return as you like.

May 2023 – Induction Stoves in Housing & Health Impacts of Gas in Buildings

Topic description and Subject Matter Experts TBA

Health & Wellness: PFAS in the Built Environment
2023-09-08 12:00 - 13:30
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are chemicals that don’t break down in the environment and can harm our health. This session focuses on raising awareness of PFAS in the built environment, looking at all stages: the overarching science, manufacturing, introduction into building, presence in turf fields, environmental effects in drinking water, and end of life in deconstruction. The conversation will include multiple speakers from a variety of backgrounds, bringing more attention to the issues surrounding PFAS.
For a primer on PFAS visit: https://greensciencepolicy.org/harmful-chemicals/pfas/
Subject Matter Experts:Lisa Goodwin Robbins | Architect, Specifier | Kalin Associates Inc.Dr. Brita Lundberg | CEO and Founder | Lundberg Health AdvocatesLaura Spark | Senior Policy Advocate | Clean Water Action

Jennifer Pederson is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Water Works Association (MWWA). MWWA is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the advancement of the drinking water profession. Since 2006, Jennifer has been overseeing MWWA’s drinking water operator education programs, volunteer committees, public relations and is responsible for coordinating the association’s legislative and regulatory affairs. She is a registered lobbyist in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Jennifer represents MWWA many state committees including the Water Management Act Advisory Committee and the Safe Drinking Water Act Advisory Committee. She was MWWA’s representative to the PFAS Interagency Task Force, the Mosquito Control for the 21 st Century Task Force, and the Sustainable Water Management Initiative Policy Committee. Jennifer received a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Suffolk University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy/Public Policy and Political Science from the University of Massachusetts at Boston.
Lisa J. Goodwin Robbins has been writing architectural specifications almost forever. Working on a wide variety of project types, she supports other Architects, both designers and project managers, in their efforts to be green, to solve problems, and to get their projects built. She helps to develop and maintain Kalin Associates’ sustainable design specifications, LEED, LBC, PHIUS, and embodied carbon documentation requirements, and base specification systems. Lisa is also board chair at Silent Spring Institute, the leading scientific research organization dedicated to uncovering the environmental causes of breast cancer. During the past ten years, Lisa has been speaking about healthier building materials and indoor air quality at national and regional conferences. She is committed to raising awareness among architects and designers about avoiding toxic chemicals in our built environment.
Trained as an infectious diseases physician and former Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University, Dr. Brita Lundberg is CEO and founder of Lundberg Health Advocates, LLC, a patient advocacy group; and CEO and founder of the Health Equity Institute, which offers education and connection to patient advocacy services for patients in need.
Dr. Lundberg is an active member of Climate Code Blue, a physician-led advocacy group dedicated to raising public awareness around the health effects of climate change; Chair of the Board at Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, and delegate and emeritus Chair of the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Environmental and Occupational Health Committee. She feels that advocating on issues relating to public health is part of her job as a physician.
Mikhail Davis is Director of Technical Sustainability at Interface, a global flooring manufacturer committed to showing industry how to make a profit in a way that is restorative to the planet and creates a climate fit for life. Mikhail is responsible for building internal leadership capacity, providing technical assistance to customers on their sustainability efforts, and creating external partnerships in sustainability. He served as 2016-19 Chair of the LEED Materials & Resources Technical Advisory Group for the US Green Building Council and is current co-chair of the Procurement Climate Collaborative at the Sustainable Procurement Leadership Council (SPLC). He co-authored the chapter on Plastics for Bruce King’s 2017 book, The New Carbon Architecture: Building to Cool the Climate and is a certified Biomimicry Specialist.
Laura Spark is Senior Policy Advocate at Clean Water Action, where she coordinates advocacy on issues related to environmental health and building decarbonization. She facilitates the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, a coalition of over 60 organizations working to get toxic chemicals out of consumer products and the environment. Before coming to Clean Water Action, Laura spent 25 years working as an urban planner and nonprofit manager, developing affordable housing and managing service programs and advocacy initiatives to address homelessness and poverty. She has held positions at Massachusetts Association for Community Action, Vietnamese American Initiative for Development, Tri-City Community Action Program, and Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. She has also had a consulting practice, helping nonprofits and public agencies develop housing and resources for low-income people. She has a Master of Architecture and Master of City Planning from MIT and an undergraduate degree from Yale University
