The Importance and Impact of the Green Building Industry

There’s no denying that the environmental movement has grown exponentially in the last decade. But, unlike other movements, sustainability isn’t something we can easily measure or notice a palpable change with. That doesn’t mean that it’s any less important, however.

So, for the inaugural episode of the podcast, Joel Pennington, podcast host and the Head of Product at VIM, brings together Arol Wolford and Charlie Cichetti, two leaders driving radical change in the built environment today.

Wolford is a distinguished entrepreneur in the construction industry as well as an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects. Cichetti, on the other hand, is the CEO and Co-founder of Sustainable Investment Group and has 15 years of experience creating green and healthy buildings totaling over 56 million square feet.

Wolford recounted his first introduction to sustainability in construction after a visit to Prince Charles in 2005, when he discovered that the construction industry was responsible for a large amount of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption.

“When I realized it was our industry, I got a real passion for green,” he said. “This industry has been very good to me, so I want to give back in whatever way I can.”

With 15 years in the industry under his belt, Cichetti got his start in sustainable architecture around the same time that Wolford did – and he’s already seen the impact that his work has made on the local communities.

“We’re in the middle of this environmental movement here, and it’s going to impact you and your business in some way,” Cichetti said. “Let’s make sure we do it right. Let’s make sure our building has less of an impact on the environment.”

If you enjoyed the first episode of the Breaking New Ground podcast, make sure to subscribe to VIM’s podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notifications when the next episodes go live.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

pre-clinical
From Classroom to Clinic: Pre-Clinical Talent Steps Into Healthcare’s Hard-to-Fill Roles
April 23, 2026

Healthcare systems are facing a workforce crisis that’s no longer temporary—it’s structural. Even before COVID-19, staffing shortages across nursing, technical, and administrative roles were already straining capacity; today, those gaps are wider, costlier, and directly impacting patient access. With labor shortages persisting and burnout rising, health systems are being forced to rethink not just…

Read More
learning
If Higher Ed Wants Experiential Learning at Scale, It Needs a Broader Playbook
April 21, 2026

The ground is shifting under higher education. AI is changing how people learn almost overnight—and at the same time, more than half of graduates are underemployed after finishing their degrees. That’s forcing a more uncomfortable question into the open: what is a college credential really worth today? As employers and governments shift their focus…

Read More
skilled trades mentorship
Why the Modern Data Center Is Forcing Communities and Policymakers to Rethink Infrastructure
April 21, 2026

Data centers have moved from largely invisible digital infrastructure to a highly visible source of public debate as artificial intelligence accelerates demand for power, fiber, and compute capacity. The modern data center is now being built closer to population centers to support low-latency services, bringing critical infrastructure into direct contact with residential communities for…

Read More
Inside the Spot Freight Shift: How Manifold Is Simplifying a Fragmented Logistics Market
April 21, 2026

The freight market is in the midst of a notable shift. With national tender rejection rates approaching 14% by the end of Q1, freight conditions have shifted back in carriers’ favor, often coinciding with increased activity in the spot market. At the same time, logistics teams are juggling an increasingly fragmented ecosystem of portals, emails,…

Read More