Very Likely the Main Cause...
..of global climate change is human activity, particularly the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal. So says the IPCC's summary, published last Saturday.
Well, we can't exactly build our way out of it, but how we build, and where we build will have a lot to do with the changes afoot. The built environment can be a significant part of the solution--one of the largest opportunities embedded within the climate change crisis.
The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report is out. Rising temperatures, rising sea levels [the area in light blue is what is likely to be under water in the Bay Area], and long term changes already well underway are described within the report.
We need a new way of valuing what we develop, and where. The good news is that, after transportation, changes in our built environment have the greatest mitigation potential on climate change.
Where do you start? Ask yourself if you are building the right thing in the right place. Ask yourself if you are building it to thrive in a high cost energy world. And start being the change...
