Numerous organizations involved in the building sector and/or climate change issues are sponsoring a free webcast next month that will discuss what participants can do now to address the issue.
The “2010 Imperative: Global Emergency Teach-In” is being hosted by Architecture 2030 (an organization focused on the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions from buildings by 2030), in partnership with AmericaSpeaks (a non-profit group that engages citizens in public interest issues), is hosting the Web event, scheduled for 12 Noon to 3:30pm EST on February 20, 2007.
Hundreds of thousands of students, faculty, deans, and practicing professionals in the architecture, planning, and design communities in North and South America and around the world are expected to participate to discover how they inadvertently fuel global warming through design, and what they can do to change this.
In response to the climate change issue, Architecture 2030 issued The 2030 Challenge in January 2006. The Challenge calls for all new buildings and major renovations to immediately reduce their energy consumption by 50%, and all new buildings to be “carbon neutral” by 2030. As The 2030 Challenge spreads across the country and around the globe, it will be the professionals and young designers who will be asked to implement it. Yet today, climate change science, mitigation and adaptation strategies are12 virtually absent in many professional offices, as well as U.S. and international professional design schools.
To address this situation, a rapid transformation of the entire design and design education community must begin immediately. The 2010 Imperative, a challenge and strategy for transforming design education, will be issued to all schools during the Teach-in, and participants will be asked to adopt, support, and implement its targets.
During the Teach-In, participants will be able to interact with leaders at the forefront of design and climate change. Panelists include Susan Szenasy, editor in Chief of Metropolis Magazine; Dr. James Hansen, Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Edward Mazria, AIA, Founder of Architecture 2030; and Dr. Chris Luebkeman, Director of Arup’s Global Foresight and Innovation Initiative. The event will feature presentations by the panelists and an extensive question and answer session, where participants around the world can query the expert panelists in real time.
There will also be an action oriented discussion on implementing The 2030 Challenge and The 2010 Imperative. This nteractive approach will allow participants to learn from and educate the panelists and each other. The Teach-in will take place in New York City before a live audience, translated into Spanish and Portuguese and simultaneously web-cast.
The Global Emergency Teach-in, which is free, is sponsored by The American Institute of Architects (AIA), U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), New York Academy of Sciences, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, AIA Large Firm Roundtable, and the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Supporters include Metropolis magazine, AIA Committee on the Environment, Campus Climate Challenge, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, American Institute of Architecture Students, the Jonathan Rose Companies, and the Society of Building Science Educators among others. The Teach-in will focus on professionals and schools of architecture, planning, engineering, landscape architecture, interior design, industrial design and other design disciplines, but is open to all.
To register, visit www.2010imperative.org.
