A fellow editor here and I have started a makeshift contest. Whoever finds the most outrageous “first” in green building wins.

It all started when she asked me the other morning over the cubicle wall, “Hey, do you remember which city is the first to implement private development green laws?” Now, I knew I had run across that somewhere (probably while searching for news to post on this Web site’s main page), but googling “first green laws” was hopeless.

In searching for the answer, the plethora of firsts in green building became apparent to us both. In a Google search for “first green building,” I discovered the first green law school, the first green building on Capitol Hill, the first green residential high-rise and the first green hotel and conference center.

All of these (mostly overly specific) firsts demonstrate just how big a trend green has become. If the news-reading general public – as well as those occupying these buildings – weren’t at all concerned with green, there would never be any “first” claims. But because there’s firsts (and often, numerous firsts) in almost every imaginable category, we can only assume that shouting “Hey look everyone, my company cares about the environment!” is about the smartest thing PR can do.

Getting back to the contest, I think I won it in only the second day of competition, and I wasn’t even looking for firsts. So here you have it folks, the first LEED Gold certified building made out of straw bales. It's actually quite impressive.