Connection
How to be a climate action advocate as a young architect As an architect, you have probably been made aware of the urgency of climate action, but perhaps its connection to the practice of architecture is less clear. I want to express the significant value you as an architect can bring to climate action advocacy and where to start your journey. As greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons, are emitted into our atmosphere by our transportation systems, industrial and manufacturing facilities, agriculture practices, and buildings, they are destabilizing our climate and causing natural disasters such as the West Coast forest fires of last summer and possibly the February snowstorms in Texas. Scientists at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have tied climate change to a key figure: temperature rise in degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial levels from 1850 to 1900. Because of greenhouse gases previously emitted and currently being emitted, we are expected to reach a 1.5°C temperature rise between 2030 and 2050. Today, we are at a rise of 0.5°C, and it has been determined that a global temperature rise of 1.5°C temperature is inevitable. This 1.5°C temperature rise will put our natural and human systems at risk of even further instability and collapse, but not nearly as much as if we were to reach a rise of 2°C. 1 This is why it is imperative to advocate for all sectors of industry and regulation to take climate action seriously so that we do not exceed 1.5°C. While the above statistics sound daunting, my hope in writing this is to inspire you. The Architecture 2030 Challenge states that buildings generate nearly 40 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. 2 These emissions come from a building’s operational carbon and its embodied carbon. Operational carbon represents the energy consumed to power and operate a building; embodied carbon represents the energy needed to produce the building’s construction materials. This
The Architecture 2030 Challenge states that buildings generate nearly 40 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions..
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means architects and the profession of architecture have an important place in the climate action advocacy effort. Through our holistic thinking and innovative problem-solving, we can drastically reduce one of the largest pieces of the emissions pie. In this article, I will share resources and organizations you may seek out to further establish yourself as a climate action advocate within your projects, firms, communities, and the global environment. Increase Your Climate Vocabulary and Awareness The IPCC is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. It has published a significant number of reports and graphics on climate change, and they are all free for download. Each report often begins with a summary that lays out its findings in accessible language. The 2014 Mitigation of Climate Change Report has a chapter dedicated to findings on buildings, including trends and drivers of their energy consumption. 3 Join a Community to Learn From and With I have found my best advocacy efforts have come from collaborating with and learning from others. There are many wonderful sustainability-oriented organizations to choose from, but one I have found particularly valuable is the Carbon Leadership Forum. The mission of the CLF is to decarbonize the built environment. It produces reports, shares resources, and produces climate action policy tools. It is primarily an online community, but there are hubs in cities all over the country and probably near you. 4 Many local AIA components have a Committee on the Environment (COTE), which can be an excellent way to get involved in climate action programming in your city and become better connected with other architects passionate about climate action. Get to Know the AIA Framework for Design Excellence The National AIA COTE has curated several sustainability resources 5, including the Framework for Design Excellence. This framework “seeks to inform progress toward a zerocarbon, equitable, resilient, and healthy built environment.” 6 My firm compares its projects against the framework to find the
