What Can I Communicate to the Media?
Communicating With The Media
Communicating the right message to the media is an important ingredient in a successful campaign to green your community. Framing the message in the right way can make or break a new initiative or story. The press is a powerful tool and proper use of the media can help convince the public of the need to implement reform. For the most part, the media and the public have been focusing on improving our automobiles as the key to solving our energy and climate change problems. It might surprise them to know that achieving real reductions in energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions requires looking closer to home—literally.
By a wide margin, the biggest portion of energy usage in the United States comes from the construction and maintenance of buildings. This is an especially significant fact because buildings, unlike cars, are not traded in for the next year’s model. Instead, they become the fabric of our communities and can have a life span measured in decades. This situation must change, and, with your leadership, it can. View the single-page issue briefs on the following topics that will enable you to communicate your actions to the press in a succinct manner:
Green Schools Issue Brief
Green Tax Incentives Issue Brief
Economics of Green Issue Brief
Green Buildings and Sustainable Design Issue Brief
Green Building Talking Points
The common assumption is that pollution from cars and factories is the leading cause of global warming, but the true sleeping giant is the built environment.
Buildings account for nearly half (48 percent) of all greenhouse gas emissions, which is far more than transportation (27 percent) and industry (25 percent). Buildings also account for 76 percent of all electricity generated at power plants.
It is estimated that by 2035 a surprising 75 percent of all buildings will either be rebuilt or undergo massive renovations. This is both a tremendous opportunity to employ green (eco-friendly) design principles on a wide scale and a dangerous proposition if such principles are NOT made a priority.
Buildings have a life span of 50–100 years, and, if current trends continue, annual energy consumption will increase 37 percent, while greenhouse gas emissions will increase by 36 percent over the next 20 years.
The AIA and (insert city) are committed to reversing this trend by setting a goal to reduce the use of fossil fuels in buildings by 50 percent in 2010 and to reach full carbon neutrality by 2030.
KEY TAKEAWAY: The design of more energy-efficient buildings is a crucial step in addressing dangerous global warming, and, through this initiative, eco-friendly design will become the norm rather than the exception.
