The 2010 Imperative
February 20th, 2007 by Vihar ShethPosted in Design, Energy, Environment, Green, Sustainability
I’ve been waiting to hear about something like this for a while. The 2010 Imperative is an effort to make systemic change in the design and planning community. According to the website, “The 2010 Imperative Global Emergency Teach-In addressing global warming and climate change is an interactive web-cast broadcast live from New York, reaching more than 500,000 students, faculty, deans and practicing professionals in the architecture, planning and design communities in both North and South America.” Where do I sign up?
The website also asks, “Are You Being Trained for the World You Will Inherit?” The question is pertinent on so many levels, not just sustainable design. If educators were forced to answer “yes” to this question our children would be better trained in other areas like math and social responsibility too. The weight upon our shoulders is so grand.
From the website, the goal of the 2010 Imperative is:
To successfully impact global warming and world resource depletion, it is imperative that ecological literacy become a central tenet of design education. Yet today, the interdependent relationship between ecology and design is virtually absent in many professional curricula. To meet the immediate and future challenges facing our professions, a major transformation of the academic design community must begin today. To accomplish this, The 2010 Imperative calls upon this community to adopt the following:
Beginning in 2007, add to all design studio problems that: “the design engage the environment in a way that dramatically reduces or eliminates the need for fossil fuel.”
This is key!
By 2010, achieve complete ecological literacy in design education, including:
- design / studio
- history / theory
- materials / technology
- structures / construction
- professional practice / ethics
By 2010, achieve a carbon-neutral design school campus by:
- implementing sustainable design strategies (optional - LEED Platinum / 2010 rating)
- generating on-site renewable power
- purchasing green renewable energy and/or certified renewable energy credits (REC’s, Green Tags), 20% maximum.
Bold but achievable goals. I truly hope the architecture, planning and design communities embrace this, or a similar challenge. Fundamentally changing the way humankind approaches the built environment is vital to a sustainable future. The time truly is now.
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