I attended my first NeoCon Conference last week in Chicago. As an architect, I looked forward to the over 700 exhibitors available at Chicago's Merchandise Mart, imagining 18 floors filled with showroom after showroom of task chairs, desks, flooring, wall coverings and the like. As a sustainable journalist, I continue to be critical of the lack of progress made by the architecture and design industries towards a greener future. NeoCon is further proof that while improvements are being made, we still have a way to go.

Scattered every 20 to 40 feet throughout the Mart were posters asking conference goers to "Select Your Eco Adventure" and enter for a chance to win 1 of 2 Eco Vacations or a new Public Bike. However, despite the innumerable number of exhibitors, the same 23 kept appearing on the poster. When I inquired about the method of selection for each of the 23 companies, I had a hard time finding a direct answer -- although my best guess would have something to do with sponsorship dollars.

Notably missing from the Eco Adventure scavenger hunt were some of the biggest names making strides in green, including Haworth, Herman Miller, and Steelcase -- all have products that have obtained Cradle-to-Cradle certification, and all have made serious commitments to reducing their impacts.

Other than the repeated posters, the most noticeable green contribution was a non-descript exhibit on the first floor titled the "greenspot," which appears to more of a permanent ongoing Merchandise Mart display.

I found myself literally sitting around the lunch table in the press room inquiring if any of my reporting peers had stumbled across some breakthrough sustainable products. The questioning expressions and raised eyebrows I got in response made it clear that I was a bit out of my green element. I noted several conversations regarding the starch plasticwear (a first for many reporters), which inevitably found its way into the waste-bin lined with a plastic bag.

What good is a compostable fork if it ends up being wrapped up in plastic, and how is it that all of these writers in the design industry have never come across biodegradable eating utensils?

Thinking that perhaps the dialogue would be better on the showroom floor talking directly to the product reps, I set off on another scavenger hunt to track down comapnies on GreenGuard's list of exhibitors with certified GreenGuard products.

I showed up at more than a dozen different showrooms, inquired about their sustainable pieces, and was often given a tour of the entire showroom with little mention of being green, despite introducing myself as an individual who writes for a number of environmental design publications.

In additional conversations with exhibitors, terminology seemed to be thrown out on a whim, including FSC certified, SCS certification, SFI, GreenGuard, Green Score Card, Floor Score, Water Sense, and Low-VOC. However, I got the overwhelming sensation that most representatives did not understand the significance of the sustainable aspects of the product even if they were able to rattle off each individual products specifications.

The conclusion? We are still lagging behind when it comes to sustainability and the design and architectural industries. But the good and bad news is that this shortcoming is not necessarily due to the lack of sustainable options.

If you step back from the overwhelming number of products on display at the Mart, you can look and find a similarly overwhelming number of sustainable products ready to be specified for the next big design project.

What is truly absent -- and what is harder to develop even than green alternatives to contemporary design -- is the knowledge that designers need to make more sustainable decisions, and the ability for product representatives to truly distinguish between their commonplace lines and those that are more friendly to the environment.

There is no doubt that as more manufacturers create lines that become increasingly sustainable, it will become steadily easier for anyone to build green. However, we have quite a way to go before we reach the inevitable tipping point where choosing a more sustainable green product is first nature, rather than second hand.

Evelyn M. Lee, AIA, LEED AP is an architect and the managing editor of Inhabitat Los Angeles.

_{Coffee photo CC-licensed by Flickr user marfis75.}