The Geography of Sustainability

In this lecture we learned why green design is important. We focused on what our local environment challenges are, why the failure to live sustainably in America, our global scale challenges, and the geography of sustainability. Sustainability can be defined as keeping human needs within the constraints of nature. An example of this is a small Swiss town high up in the Alps building a damn because of the warming permafrost flooding down from the top of the mountain.
Some problems that we face are air pollution. The Triad is in the top 25 dirtiest air in America because of vehicle transportation. There were 7 code orange days in 2007. Our White Street Landfill has also closed from being overfilled. The urban sprawl is a major problem, this affects our water sources (which has come dangerously low) and causes urban heat island effect.
The five point framework for collapse is labeled as: environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, friendly trade partners, and society's response to environmental problems. The last reason is regarded as the most important factor, and can make or break whether we are able to create a sustainable balance between humans and the earth. There is a direct relationship between a society's belief in the Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP) and how "green" they are. Our core values are rooted in individualism, growth, and private property rights. This stems from Adam Smith's "Hidden Hand." But this theory does not count in externalities and common pool problems. The more we cling to those, the less we are willing to sacrifice for a more sustainable lifestyle. We are relying too much on science and technology to solve our problems.

Architecture 2030 Challenge

This lecture focused on creating more sustainable buildings under the Architecture 2030 challenge. The goal is to cut carbon emissions by 50% immediately, and gradually reducing our carbon footprint to zero by 2030. Some goals to reduce our carbon footprint would be 100 solar panels for 4,000 square feet of rooftop that would heat 60% or more of the water, constructing buildings with 22.4% recyclable materials, or circulate 60 cubic feet per minute of clean air indoors. The AIA company has over 200 pages of AIA50>>50: 50 ways to reduce carbon to 50%.
The impact of sustainability was compared to a storm, which Linn defined as "a constructive/destructive dynamic event, agent of transformation, not a place or thing but a process." LEED (Leadership in Energy & Design) certification is an important step towards sustainability, but right now companies do not have very much incentive to become certified unless they are genuinely interested in sustainability. Linn also stressed buildings needed to have a "long life, loose fit." If the building is not going to be useful generations upon generations, it is not sustainable. He firmly believes that the most sustainable building is one that is already built, and is very pro restoring useless historical buildings into new, modern, LEED certified buildings. A major message of the lecture was to think holistically, "the whole world is greater than the sum of its parts."