GREEN GLOSSARY
“Wisdom is the capacity to know what we don’t know.” – Paul Hawken

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> Biobased Product – A commercial or industrial product (other than food or feed) that utilizes biological, agricultural or forestry materials. • Biodegradable – Exhibiting the capability of being broken down, decomposed or metabolized by microorganisms and reduced to organic or inorganic molecules that can be further utilized by living systems.

> Biomimicry – The study of nature and imitation of nature’s forms; the process of learning from and then emulating nature.

> Building Related Illness (BRI) – Diagnosable illness whose symptoms can be identified and whose cause can be directly attributed to airborne building pollutants. (Contrast with “Sick Building Syndrome.”)

> Cap and Trade System – A strategy to reduce carbon emissions via financial incentives; ‘caps’ establish emissions limits and fines for exceeding those limits, while companies operating below their carbon limits can sell or ‘trade’ their offsets to companies that are operating above their limits.

> Carbon Footprint – The total amount of greenhouse gases emitted directly or indirectly through any human activity, typically expressed in equivalent tons of either carbon or carbon dioxide.

> Clean Air Act – The Federal statute that regulates air emissions from area, stationary and mobile sources. This law authorizes the U.S. EPA to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards to protect public health and the environment.

> Clean Water Act – The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, as amended in 1977, became commonly known as the Clean Water Act. The Act established the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the U.S.

> Climate Change – Changes in global climate patterns (such as temperature, precipitation or wind) that last for extended periods of time as a result of either natural processes or human activity. The contemporary concern is that human activity is now transcending natural processes in causing the most prevalent climate changes of our time.

> Closed Loop – A type of manufacturing process that utilizes a cyclical material flow in order to minimize waste (see also “Cradle to Cradle”).

> Compostable – Possessing the ability to break down into or otherwise become part of useable compost (soil conditioning material or mulch) in a safe and timely manner.

> Cradle-To-Cradle – The opposite of “cradle-to-grave;” designing a product with reuse in mind rather than disposal. At the fundamental level, it proposes modeling human industry and design on nature, in which materials are viewed as nutrients circulating in healthy ecosystems.

> Cradle-To-Cradle Design Protocol - A scientifically based, peer-reviewed process used to assess and optimize materials used in products and processes in order to maximize health, safety, effectiveness, and reutilization, conducted by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) of Charlottesville, VA.

MTS Seating makes every effort to avoid “greenwashing” by complying with the Federal Trade Commission’s Part 260 Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims. Please feel free to contact Jennifer White, Sustainability Coordinator, or Dave Dimmer, Marketing Manager, with any questions or feedback.