According to Architecture 2030, there is a ‘silver bullet’ solution to global warming and it’s time the nation faced up to it. To get its message out, the non-profit organization will be hosting a nationwide webcast, called Face It, focusing on the solution. During the webcast, they will unveil two competitions about the solution with $20,000 in prize money.
The half-hour webcast will be broadcast from Architecture 2030’s website, www.architecture2030.org, beginning at 9 am EST on January 30, 2008. Focus the Nation, a national effort to engage students, faculty, administrators, citizens and government officials in discussions to address global warming, takes place January 31, 2008.
The Face It webcast will build on the information provided during Architecture 2030’s highly successful webcast, The 2010 Imperative Global Emergency Teach-in. The Teach-in, which broadcast live in February 2007 and focused on the role of design education in global warming, reached a quarter of a million students, design professionals and government officials worldwide.
The solution to global warming, according to the founder of Architecture 2030, Edward Mazria, is two-fold. “Energy use is at the heart of global warming. There are two sides to energy use, supply and demand, so any viable solution must address both sides of this coin.” On the supply side, Mazria advocates first for a US and then a global moratorium on the construction of any new conventional coal plants, and the gradual phasing out of existing coal plants by 2050. On the demand side, he advocates for adoption and implementation of The 2030 Challenge, a global initiative calling for all new buildings and renovations to reduce their fossil-fuel greenhouse-gas-emitting consumption by 50% by 2010, and that all new buildings be ‘carbon neutral’ by 2030.
To Architecture 2030’s credit, the organization’s 2030 Challenge has been adopted and supported by numerous groups, including the US Conference of Mayors, American Institute of Architects, National Association of Counties, US Green Building Council, California Public Utilities Commission, California Energy Commission and EPA’s Target Finder, as well as many individual cities, counties and states. Beginning in 2008, the federal government will require the Challenge energy reduction targets for all new and renovated federal buildings.
The Face It webcast is part of Architecture 2030’s larger Reverberate Campaign, which will involve several events throughout 2008. The first of these are the two Reverberate Competitions to be unveiled during the webcast. Students will be asked to create something (you’ll have to tune in to the webcast to learn what) that will reverberate throughout their campus and society at large. There will be two categories, graphic design and video. In addition to the $20,000 in prize money that will be distributed amongst the winners, the winning graphic design entry will appear in a full-page ad in Metropolis magazine and the winning video entry will be featured on the Metropolis and Architecture 2030 websites.
Architecture 2030 Architecture 2030 is a New Mexico-based 501c3 research organization that focuses on the role of buildings in global warming. The Building Sector accounts for almost half of all greenhouse gas emissions in the US annually. By galvanizing and collaborating with the key players in this sector, Architecture 2030 is working to achieve a dramatic reduction in the global-warming-causing greenhouse gas emissions of buildings by changing the way they are designed and constructed.