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COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE WITH LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

2013-11-16T06:14:00.003-08:00

A recent report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal.” According to the IPCC, average global temperatures are increasing at an alarming rate. In just the past 50 years, northern hemisphere temperatures were higher than during any other 50-year period in the last 500 years, perhaps even the past 1,300 years. The IPCC projects that the Earth’s surface temperature could rise by as much as 4°C within the next century.

The primary cause of climate change is increasing concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs), especially carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. The 2007 Assessment Report by the IPCC indicates that GHG emissions increased by 70 percent between 1970 and 2004. These gases are primarily emitted as a result of human behavior, such as the burning of fossil fuels to produce energy. Building consturction and energy use account for more than 30 percent of worldwide emissions, while the transportation sector is responsible for another 30 percent.

Experts predict that the increase in the Earth’s temperature, if left unchecked, will have devastating effects. According to the IPCC, the projected sea level rise could reach 19-23 inches by the year 2100. Additional impacts could include increased spread of diseases; extensive species extinction; drought and wildfires; mass human, animal and plant migrations; and resource wars over shrinking amounts of potable water.

There are a range of landscape architecture-based mitigation strategies that, if employed at mass scale, can help reduce GHG emissions by 50-85 percent by 2050 and limit temperature rise to 2 degrees celsius, targets that the U.N. recommends. Given the effects of climate change are already being felt in many communities, landscape architecture-based adaptation measures are also now being planned and implemented across cities and countries .http://www.asla.org/climatechange.aspx

Architecture 2030

2013-11-16T06:13:00.002-08:00

Architecture 2030, a non-profit, non-partisan and independent organization, was established in response to the climate change crisis by architect Edward Mazria in 2002. 2030’s mission is to rapidly transform the built environment from the major contributor of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to a central part of the solution to the climate and energy crises. Architecture 2030 pursues two primary objectives:

the dramatic reduction in global fossil fuel consumption and GHG emissions of the built environment by changing the way cities, communities, infrastructure, and buildings, are planned, designed, and constructed and;
the regional development of an adaptive, resilient built environment that can manage the impacts of climate change, preserve natural resources, and access low-cost, renewable energy resources.

Ocean Acidification

2013-11-16T06:12:00.002-08:00

“Coral reefs, the rain forest of the ocean, are home for one-third of the species of the sea. Coral reefs are under stress for several reasons, including warming of the ocean, but especially because of ocean acidification, a direct effect of added carbon dioxide. Ocean life dependent on carbonate shells and skeletons is threatened by dissolution as the ocean becomes more acid.” —Dr. James Hansen, address to the National Press Club, June 23, 2008

With Climate Change Comes Floods

2013-11-16T06:11:00.002-08:00

Climate change is disturbing the delicate balancing act that people have with water. Water is critical to life — for drinking and irrigation, and as a source of food, transportation and recreation. But too much water — or water that comes at an unexpected time, or in unexpected places — can be a big problem.

As global temperatures rise, many places are threatened by flooding. A recent study looking at who is at risk shows many coastal cities could be hit hard, particularly heavily populated cities in Asia. But in terms of economic loss, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found that the top 10 cities at risk are all in three industrialized countries: the United States, Japan and the Netherlands.

Warming water can cause rises in sea levels and strong storms, with the potential to impact people around the globe.

Rising Sea Levels

As global temperatures rise, oceans get warmer. And when water heats up, it expands and sea levels rise.

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that from 1993 to 2003, global sea level rose about 3 millimeters each year, and approximately half of that increase is attributed to the ocean expanding as it warms.

About one-quarter of this rise is attributed to melting glaciers and ice caps. Melting from the Greenland ice sheet and the Antarctic ice sheet combined is estimated to account for about 14 percent of observed sea level rise. If the Greenland ice sheet melted entirely, sea level would rise 20 feet around the world. But such a catastrophic melt isn't projected for thousands of years, if it happens at all. Currently there is no scientific consensus on how much of these giant ice sheets will melt, or when that might happen.

"Scientists do not understand the ice process enough for accurate predictions of Greenland and Antarctica," says Carol Auer, an oceanographer with the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration.

It is also not known exactly how much warmer the planet will get.

"We can change this around, at least to a degree," Auer says. "It's not a disaster yet."

A sea level rise of just a few millimeters a year may seem insignificant, but Auer says that on flat land, it adds up. She says that a half-inch of vertical sea level rise translates to about three feet of land lost on a sandy open coast, due to long-term erosion. And even a slightly higher sea level can cause more dramatic tides in deltas and estuaries.

Dutch Architects Plan for a Floating Future

2013-11-16T06:10:00.004-08:00

Architects in Holland are showing the rest of the world a way of turning adversity into opportunity.

The inevitable rise in sea level that comes with climate change is going to make it increasingly difficult to control flooding in low-lying Holland. But instead of cursing their fate, architects are designing a new Holland that will float on water, and the Dutch government seems willing to try out the scheme. Holland has made other countries begin to question, too. Who says you have to live on dry land?

With the exception of the major highways, it feels like you can't drive more than a mile or so in the Netherlands without running into water. It could be the sea; it could be a river; it could be a canal.

The sea level is increasing

2013-11-16T06:10:00.001-08:00

Help reverse climate change before it's to late

2013-11-16T06:09:00.001-08:00

France will sink..

2013-11-16T06:05:00.003-08:00

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2013-11-16T06:03:00.002-08:00

2013-11-16T06:02:00.003-08:00

All across the world, in every kind of environment and region known to man, increasingly dangerous weather patterns and devastating storms are abruptly putting an end to the long-running debate over whether or not climate change is real. Not only is it real, it's here, and its effects are giving rise to a frighteningly new global phenomenon: the man-made natural disaster.

BARACK OBAMA

2013-11-16T06:02:00.001-08:00

"There are many potential policies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions for which the total benefits outweigh the total costs. For the United States in particular, sound economic analysis shows that there are policy options that would slow climate change without harming American living standards, and these measures may in fact improve U.S. productivity in the longer run."

Economists' Statement on Climate Change, 2007

2013-11-16T06:01:00.003-08:00

"The warnings about global warming have been extremely clear for a long time. We are facing a global climate crisis. It is deepening. We are entering a period of consequences."

Al Gore

2013-11-16T06:01:00.001-08:00

Global warming is too serious for the world any longer to ignore its danger or split into opposing factions on it.

TONY BLAIR

2013-11-16T05:59:00.003-08:00

2013-11-16T05:56:00.000-08:00

When it comes to connecting the dots between climate change, extreme weather and health, the lines are clear.

The earth is saying something with record heat, drought, storms and fire. Scientists are telling us this is what global warming looks like.

It's time to listen – and take action. There's plenty we can do.

Carbon pollution is the main reason our planet is getting hotter, increasing the chances of weather disasters, drought and flood and hurting our health.

There are solutions. For starters, we can cut carbon pollution by reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and increasing our use of clean, renewable energy. And we can implement policies that help us prepare for flooding, drought, storms and other consequences of climate change.

But first, we need national leadership that will stop ignoring what the earth and scientists are telling us about climate change -- and instead start ignoring those who continue to deny it is happening.

Ice melting could be devastating

2013-11-06T23:57:00.002-08:00

Scientists believe it could take around 5,000 years for temperatures to rise significantly enough to melt all the ice on the planet, but claim the planet is already seeing the beginnings of this.

Over the past century, reports suggest the Earth's temperature has increased by around half a degree Celsius and, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this has already caused sea levels to rise by around seven inches.

The future belongs to us

2013-11-06T23:49:00.000-08:00

How High Will Sea Levels Go by 2100?

2013-11-06T23:48:00.001-08:00

Rising sea level is among the most potentially catastrophic effects of human-caused climate change. Increases in sea level strengthen the destructive power of storms, and threaten to swamp major coastal cities, as well as small-island and low-lying nations. In the United States alone, more than 8 million people live in areas at risk of coastal flooding.
http://www.livescience.com/39891-sea-level-rise-ipcc-report.html

David Takayoshi Suzuki

2013-11-06T23:46:00.001-08:00

David Takayoshi Suzuki, CC OBC (born March 24, 1936) is a Japanese Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a Ph.D in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department at the University of British Columbia from 1963 until his retirement in 2001. Since the mid-1970s, Suzuki has been known for his TV and radio series and books about nature and the environment. He is best known as host of the popular and long-running CBC Television science magazine, The Nature of Things, seen in over forty nations. He is also well known for criticizing governments for their lack of action to protect the environment.

David Suzuki

2013-11-06T23:45:00.002-08:00

The failure of world leaders to act on the critical issue of global warming is often blamed on economic considerations.
David Suzuki

David Suzuki

2013-11-06T23:44:00.002-08:00

Scientists have been warning about global warming for decades. It's too late to stop it now, but we can lessen its severity and impacts.
David Suzuki

LET the earth sleep

2013-11-06T23:43:00.002-08:00

You are not just burning calories

2013-11-06T01:22:00.001-08:00

2013-11-06T01:18:00.004-08:00

The effects of global warming are the ecological and social changes caused by the rise in global temperatures. There is a scientific consensus that climate change is occurring, and that human activities are the primary driver. Evidence of climate change includes the instrumental temperature record, rising sea levels, and decreased snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in human greenhouse gas concentrations.