An Open Invitation to the 2010 Imperative: Global Emergency Teach-in

by Edward Mazria, AIA
Founder, Architecture 2030

Summary: With so much attention given to transportation, many people are surprised to learn that buildings are the single largest contributor to global warming. In the U.S., buildings are responsible for almost half (48 percent) of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually; globally the percentage is even greater. To address architects’ and the building sector's role in climate change, the AIA is sponsoring a Global Emergency Teach-in hosted by Architecture 2030, The Teach-in, entitled “The 2010 Imperative,” will be Webcast live from New York City on February 20, noon–3 p.m. ET. Thousands of practicing professionals, students, faculty, and deans in the architecture, planning, engineering, and design communities in North and South America and around the world will be logging on to discover how they inadvertently fuel global warming through design, and what they can do to change this.

Addressing the 2030 Challenge and the 2010 Imperative
In addition to addressing climate change, participants will also learn about the “2030 Challenge” and the “2010 Imperative.”

In response to the climate-change crisis, Architecture 2030 issued The 2030 Challenge in January 2006. The AIA adopted the challenge’s targets later that month. The challenge calls for all new buildings and major renovations to immediately reduce their energy consumption by 50 percent, 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 and mitigation and adaptation strategies virtually are absent in many professional offices, as well as in U.S. and international professional design schools.

To address this situation, a rapid transformation of the entire architecture, planning, engineering, and design education community must begin immediately. The 2010 Imperative, a challenge and strategy for transforming design and design education, will be issued to all professionals and schools during the teach-in, and participants will be asked to adopt, support, and implement its targets.

Interactive format
During the teach-in, participants will be able to interact with leaders at the forefront of design and climate change. Joining me as panelists will be:

• Susan Szenasy, editor in chief of Metropolis magazine
• Dr. James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies
• 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, during which 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 highly interactive 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 Webcast.

Sponsors and participants: The Global Emergency Teach-in, which is free, is also sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), New York Academy of Sciences, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the AIA Large Firm Roundtable. Supporters include Metropolis magazine, AIA Committee on the Environment, Campus Climate Challenge, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, American Institute of Architecture Students, National Wildlife Federation, and the Society of Building Science Educators, among others.

Open to all—please register: 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 for and/or participate, visit the Webcast Web site. (We are asking everyone to register, although it is not necessary to do so to participate. By registering, you will help us in our planning and receive important updates over the coming weeks.)

Groups are welcome to join in: We are asking professional design, engineering, and consulting firms; government entities (planning departments, city officials, etc.); and schools to join us for the teach-in. Because this will be an interactive event, with opportunity for discussion and Q&A, we recommend that groups meet together when possible to participate in the event. We suggest planning the event for large groups in an auditorium, ballroom, conference room, or large seminar space/classroom and projecting from a laptop to a large screen. Make sure you hook up to a good set of speakers.

Continuing ed: Participants in the teach-in may earn three HSW continuing education credits/learning units.