There are many aspects of sustainability.  Sustain means to endure, maintain or suffer.  None of us want to suffer or endure using the wrong materials.  The question remains what are the right materials?

In construction, the LEED or green way to determine some of the right materials would be to use rapidly renewable materials.  Material that is planted and harvested in less than a ten year cycle usually constitutes a rapidly renewable material.  These materials are defined as any materials resources that replenish themselves faster than the demand for the product.

Some of these green materials to consider are bamboo, wool, cotton insulation, agrifiber, linoleum, wheatboard, strawboard and cork.  Use of these materials is considered more environmentally responsible, protecting our natural resources.  As demand and production for green materials increase, they are expected to become cost competitive with conventional materials.