Rural, Environmental, Green, 2030, Difference, are some random words to describe my thoughts on a potential writing topic… Specifically the “2030 Challenge”…. Set forth by Architect Ed Mazria, this is a challenge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by buildings to zero by the year 2030…
Some questions I have;
1.) I need to understand the challenge fully
2.) As an Architect, what will I be able to do to move toward it?
3.) What will I be able to do to move my profession toward it?
4.) What about my community?? My family??
Focusing specifically on the Bangor/Northern central Maine area, I will need to map out a strategy for meeting the challenge.
1.) Phase 1-Research
a. Understanding the problem
b. Understanding my role in it
c. Understanding my firms role in it
d. Understanding my industries role in it
e. Understanding my families role in it
f. Understanding my communities role in it
2.) Phase 2-Strategy
a. Formulate the necessary steps to make a change
b. What will I need to do?
c. Who can help me?
d. Who can I help?
e. What resources will I need?
f. What is the timeline
g. What will my milestones be?
3.) Phase 3-Implementation
a. Set the plan into motion
b. Evaluate the results
c. Re-evaluate the plan
d. Am I making the change?
i. If not, why?
ii. If so, can I do better?
(Affinity Group member 1 comments)
Will you change or improve upon the past as you move into the future or will it be all new from here on out? Take the case of the automobile; today (in Ohio for example) you don’t have car inspections where the older 1970s and 1980s cars are polluting the air. The same can be said w/older buildings. Poor HVAC, overused HVAC, which uses more fossil fuels and electricity, thus polluting the air and environment. Newer facilities by current construction standards are more efficient. They could be better though. So, one point of contention would be how to bring older facilities up to current standards with education, advocacy and implementation the rest should follow.
(Affinity Group member 2 comments)
I have limited exposure to sustainable design other than the information presented at seminars. I am familiar with it, but have never implemented it. It seems some building typologies are embracing it, specifically government and educational and health care industries. How do we promote this involvement on a smaller scale? The masses don’t use schools, hospitals, and such on a daily basis. Homes, retail spaces, and smaller building typologies like churches and such are the pre-dominant built fabric of our environment. Without changing these typologies, the green building movement will have a weaker impact. Is legislation the answer in a capitalist society? Force the masses to comply by code requirements?
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3 comments:
One problem with a univariate solution to a problem is that there are always other variables that we decide not to consider. So let's say that we take carbon-neutrality as a goal (and it's a good one). How do we do that in a way that doesn't lose sight of the many experiential qualities we want from our places -- physical comfort, social gathering, visual interest, economic productivity, and so on? Don't let one really important variable overwhelm a bunch of other really important variables.
I agree that it is counterproductive to achieve one goal at the expense of others. My focus is more on finding a balance. Carbon neutrality at the expense of physical comfort is not an optimal solution. But, finding a way to have both is. How can we achieve it, or at the very least, make it easier to achieve, without sacrificing these other variables? there has to be a better way than what we're doing now......doesn't there?????
So maybe "balance" isn't the right thing. Maybe there are some forms that naturally allow you to accomplish several good outcomes at once. For instance, city living is good for transportation use, good for social contact, good for increased inter-group communication, good for economic productivity. It's not perfect, of course... it's expensive, and you have to learn that you don't have to have your own way every second of every day.
Here's a book for you. It's called "Ecocity Berkeley," by Richard Register. It's a heavily illustrated vision of how one community of 100,000 could remake itself gradually, over the course of a hundred years, into an ecologically sensitive and socially thriving set of small cores. Go find it.
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