In the spirit of Thanksgiving, the Green Builder Media team wants to express our heartfelt appreciation for you—our readers, advertisers, partners, and colleagues—the leaders of the green building sector.

At Green Builder Media, our dream is for each structure in North America—indeed throughout the world—to be self-sufficient and regenerative, replenishing its surrounding environment and nourishing its community.

It’s a herculean effort to transform an industry, and there is no way that we could accomplish our goals without your colossal support. We thank you for your continued involvement in the building of our collective dreams. With the proliferation of advanced green products, performance metrics (in 2011, 40% of all houses built in the United States had a HERS rating), and consumer awareness, we’re turning incremental change into exponential results.

I’m particularly grateful for the building professionals who are delivering high performance homes at price parity; the consumers who are looking beyond the price per square foot metric and making purchasing decisions based on long-term value, driven by their interest in sustainable living; the product manufacturers who are embracing innovation and developing affordable green products; and the regulators who are making sustainability a baseline.

I’d also like to extend boundless gratitude to my remarkable colleagues at Green Builder® Media. Your passion, commitment, creativity, and ingenuity have enabled our company to constantly raise the bar on sustainability and affect significant, positive change throughout North America.

Pushing a boulder uphill can certainly be a thankless job. So, whatever area of the green building sector you’re in, please know that your work is appreciated. Thank you for your vigorous dedication to finding solutions for intelligent living. I’m encouraged by your vision, excited by your enthusiasm, and awed by your ingenuity. Your work inspires my own.

And, as a self-professed shameless plug, let Green Builder Media give back to you this holiday season—enter to win a trip for 4 to celebrate Earth Day with Green Builder Media at our VISION House® in Innoventions exhibit at Epcot® in the Walt Disney World Resort®. It would be an honor to have you there with us to celebrate all of our efforts towards building a better world.

What are you thankful for this holiday season? Write to me at sara@greenbuildermag.com or follow me on Twitter @SaraGBM.

For more information about green building and sustainable living, visit www.greenbuildermag.com, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter at @greenbuildermag and @VISIONHouseGBM for regular updates and breaking news.

Between the culmination of the presidential campaign and the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, it has been a nerve wracking few weeks. The aggressive political banter and the super storm have kept us on an emotional roller coaster, leaving our nation exhausted and raw.

But now it’s time to focus on the cleanup and healing process. It’s time to put down our differences, fears, and demoralization, and set ourselves on a pathway towards a unified and sustainable future. We all want change in many different forms, and the only way that we’re going to see it implemented is by working together.

The greatest challenge for the human spirit is to overcome adversity with grace. It’s easy to feel disillusioned when favorite candidates didn’t get elected or when livelihoods are lost for reasons far beyond our control. But, as Nelson Mandela said, “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies." Now is not a time for bitterness. Rather, it’s a time for heroism and courage.

For those of us working diligently to create a sustainable future, perhaps we can find consolation that both the election and Sandy have opened the door to increased acceptance of climate change, as well as the pressing need to create innovative, viable solutions for a changing environment.

While certain important renewable energy initiatives, such as Proposal 3 in Michigan (which would have would have increased the state’s renewable electricity target to require that 25 percent of power come from clean sources by 2025) was rejected, other green building initiatives, such as Proposition 39 in California (which is expected to allocate approximately $500 million annually to improve the energy efficiency of public buildings), were approved.

We have a long way to go and not a second to lose, but it’s important to take pause and appreciate the hard work that has been completed and the important progress that has been made to lay the foundation for sustainable market transformation. I suspect that the next several years will bring rapid and dramatic change that, hopefully, we can all be proud of.

What do you think are the best next steps for developing viable solutions for a sustainable future? Write to me at sara@greenbuildermag.com or follow me on Twitter @SaraGBM.

For more information about green building and sustainable living, visit www.greenbuildermag.com, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter at @greenbuildermag and @VISIONHouseGBM for regular updates and breaking news.

The devastation induced by Hurricane Sandy is nothing less than heartbreaking. A continent away in the northwestern part of the country, I watch as sad news stories break one after another about communities that have been pummeled by the storm.

Breezy Point, Queens, with 80 homes destroyed by a raging inferno that one resident said was ‘reminiscent of Hellfire.’ Lower Manhattan deluged with up to 15 feet of water. And entire portions of the New Jersey shore altered, perhaps forever, by the storm’s ferocious title surges.

But, as we have seen time and time again, Americans are never better than when we unify in the face of a common challenge. And that’s what we’re seeing in the aftermath of Sandy—people helping neighbors and strangers alike, without thought of political gain or economic expediency.

There is nothing more inspiring than seeing the lengths to which our nation’s emergency response personnel will go to save lives. It’s impossible not to feel buoyant when hearing about the extraordinary nurses from New York University Medical, who administered hand-pumped oxygen to critical care infants and transported hundreds of patients to safety after their hospital lost power.

Despite (or perhaps because of) the destruction that, to date, ranges from North Carolina to Maine and inland as far as Wisconsin, including dozens of deaths, over a million evacuees, and estimated damages and impact to the economy in excess of $50 billion, the humanity of our nation has, once again, surfaced.

Sandy is bringing people together in a palpable way, suspending ideologies and political polarities. It’s almost ironic that the election is only days away, at a moment of time when the deep schism that has engulfed our country couldn’t feel less important or further away. It’s hard to make sense of the stark contrast between the hatefulness of our political rhetoric and the compassion that has been elicited by Sandy’s ruthless wreckage.

As New York Governor Andrew Cuomo states, “Extreme weather patterns are becoming regular, and we need to be prepared. We’re experiencing a 100-year flood every 2 years. It’s a new reality that we’ll have to deal with. And, just as Ground Zero stands as a monument to human capacity and endurance, we will rebuild our city.”

Perhaps it’s time for us to use Sandy as a reminder of our own humanity, and that we don’t have to wait for extreme catastrophes to display it.

With all of our family, friends, and fellow citizens who have been adversely affected by Sandy in our hearts, all I can hope for is that we continue to act, and vote, with humanity rather than hatred.

Do you have a story about humanity shown in the face of Sandy’s destruction? Write to me at sara@greenbuildermag.com or follow me on Twitter @SaraGBM.

For more information about green building and sustainable living, visit www.greenbuildermag.com, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter at @greenbuildermag and @VISIONHouseGBM for regular updates and breaking news.