mindful MATERIALS builds events, resources and tools designed to support and amplify the material sustainability initiatives of the entire building ecosystem.
We are working to make holistic sustainability a ubiquitous factor in material decision-making for every building.
Your support allows us to build centralized solutions that are accessible, scalable and foundational to advance sustainability.
If you work with the mM community, use our resources or the Portal, recognize the power of a common language for materials, are a signatory to a materials pledge — or simply believe that sustainability should be an unavoidable consideration for building materials, consider supporting our mission by donating below.
mindful MATERIALS, Inc. is a qualified 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Tax ID Number: 87- 4824812.
About our work
Humans spend 90% of our time indoors, surrounded by building materials, fabrics, and furniture. Despite calls for transparency and a growing number of product databases, we still have no idea what is in the vast majority of these products and materials, and they have a massive impact on our health, as well as on the planet. In fact, the impact of materials is so massive, it’s almost impossible to measure.
Now is the time to fundamentally transform the materials market.
We’re leveraging the power of crowdfunding to kickstart wide scale adoption toward sustainable materials in buildings. The level of industry-wide alignment that is necessary to make that change happen can only be accomplished through a neutral, trusted leader: mindful MATERIALS. If this campaign is successful, it will result in unprecedented transparency into the impacts of building materials, leading to more sustainable materials in the market to choose from, and safer spaces for all. Support this work today.
Did you know:
• Construction projects contribute to 40% of global carbon emissions.
• 90% of health ailments are due to everyday toxin exposures (including, but not limited to, building materials).
• The US generated 600 million tons of Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste in 2018 - more than double the amount of municipal solid waste generated in the same time period.
• Construction is the largest global industrialized sector and at the highest risk of forced labor.
• ‘Forever Chemicals’ like PFAS are unregulated in building materials and have been found in the bodies of 99% of Americans, causing our rainwater to be deemed “undrinkable” globally.
While we often focus on minimizing the health impacts of materials on building occupants, the greatest impacts a building material will have throughout its life cycle often have already occurred by the time it reaches a job site - like the energy (or carbon) used to extract, refine, and process it, and the impact on communities and individuals where these activities take place (areas like Cancer Alley in Louisiana).
These wide-ranging built-in impacts of materials are what we call the holistic embodied impacts, and right now we have no way to track them because there is no centralized framework for manufacturers to report - or purchasers and specifiers to find - this information.
Seth Godin recently wrote, ‘Thinking of problems as things for individuals to solve is hopelessly out of date.’ There’s no way individuals - or even individual architecture firms (no matter how large) can solve the problem of materials transparency alone. That’s why we’re leveraging collective action through crowdfunding to kickstart a wide scale transformation toward sustainable materials in the building product industry.
Your support of this crowdfunding campaign will help us bring our vision to life: a world where sustainable materials are clear to identify, easy to find, and the standard on every project. Where Architecture and Design firms, General Contractors and subcontractors, and end users can make more informed, educated materials decisions. Where the holistic embodied impacts of buildings can be measured through centralized and digitized sustainability data (our Common Materials Framework), and ultimately reduced.
By crowdfunding these efforts, we will be able to expand mM’s staff to:
Align and deepen collaborations with key industry stakeholders to support wide scale digitization, adoption and continuous improvement of the Common Materials Framework (a shared language to define sustainable materials).
Create tools and resources to make sustainability data easier to access by strengthening existing tools and resources that already exist
Develop industry-wide, materials-specific education and events for each stakeholder in the built environment (architects and designers, owners and end-users, contractors, manufacturers and ultimately consumers)
Build a web-based collaboration hub for peer learning, knowledge and resource sharing, and community engagement, open to all mindfulMATERIALS members
If this campaign is successful, it will result in unprecedented transparency into the impacts of building materials, leading to more sustainable materials in the market to choose from, and safer spaces for all.
If not us, who? If not now, when?
Over the past 8 years mindfulMATERIALS has become a leader in the built environment industry, serving as a differentiator for manufacturers and products who have invested in material transparency and optimization, and a beacon for designers seeking sustainable materials for their projects. Our Staff and Board of Directors have facilitated partnerships and personal relationships with industry-leading organizations and certifying bodies globally, and collectively have over 250 years of direct materials market experience.
We firmly believe no organization is better positioned to usher in wide scale market transformation than mindfulMATERIALS, but in order to continue to grow and expand our efforts, education, and influence, we need your support.
With so many exciting changes on the horizon, your financial support is transformational. Help us achieve our fundraising target of $250,000 by the end of October 2022 to expand our staff and scale industry-wide change.
[Donations above $250 will automatically be entered to win a Humanscale Smart Ocean Chair. Winner will be selected on October 31 when this campaign ends.]
Thank you for helping to make our vision for a more mindful future a reality!
mindful MATERIALS, Inc. is a qualified 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Tax ID Number: 87- 4824812.