Is Climate Positivity Possible

Hello Everyone: 

It is a cloudy Monday and fresh a week in the blogosphere. The Candidate Forum is following the growing legal troubles of the president and those in his circle. Look for an update at the usual day and time. Shall we talk about design and climate change?

Is it possible to create "climate-positive" design?  What is a climate-positive program?  The C40 defines climate-positive program as:

...a recognition based effort under C40's Urban Planning & Decelopment Initiative of the world's most ambitious low-carbon projects. The Program supports the creation and implementation of large-scale urban communities that reduce greenhouse gas and serve as models for citied to grow environmentally sustainability viable ways... (c40.org; date accessed Dec. 10, 2018)

The C40 is a group of 90 major cities committed to addressing climate change (citylab.com; Dec. 6, 2018; date accessed Dec. 10, 2018).  

Cities play a crucial part in the fight to stave off climate change and there is not much time. Cities have a "window of less than three years...to deliver on the commitments they agreed to in the Paris climate agreement" (c40.org). Not a lot of time to reduce the level of carbon emissions.  The goal of reducing carbon emissions intensified in October, when the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change declared: ...avoiding the damages the damage required transforming the world economy at s speed and scale that had 'no documented historic precedent' (nytimes.com; Oct. 7, 2018; date accessed Dec. 10, 2018).  IPCC warned that "...the world is on track to heat up at least 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels by 2030"  (citylab.com; Dec. 10, 2018).  

Just staying on top of this dire situation requires unprecedented actions.  Architect and sustainability expert who consults with cities around the globes out reducing their carbon emissions Eric Corey Freed told CityLab,

To keep the Earth somewhat hospitable for humans, we have to make changes that most people would find unreasonable.... Cutting carbon in half is pretty straightforward.... What I have to do get to the last 50 percent is harder. (Ibid)

Mr. Freed has recommended to his client in municipal governments: "Ban the use of internal combustion engines within city limits, buy solar panels for every rooftop, take over your electric utility, buy every citizen an electric scooter" (Ibid). These recommendations are just in order to reach carbon neutrality. While rooftop solar panels may be feasible, Blogger is not so sure about banning cars and trucks from city limits, take over individual electric bills, and certainly not buy everyone a scooter.  Regardless, anything above and beyond that entails removing carbon from the atmosphere (citylab.com; Dec. 6, 2018).

Liz Enochs asks in her CityLab article "Is 'Climate-Positive' Design Possible?," "Can cities revamp their neighborhoods so they cancel out more carbon than they emit?"  It is possible, according to a group of designers and advocates who are argue in favor of "climate-positive city design" (Ibid), which moves beyond zero emissions.

Landscape architect Pamela Conrad, whose work focuses on carbon drawdown strategies, told CityLab, We know that reducing emissions alone won't get us there (Ibid).  Ms. Conrad developed a carbon calculator to gauge a project's climate impact. She said, "it became clear how much landscape design could do to offset and reduce emissions. For example, trees, soil and other materials store (or sequester) carbon, and can offset a significant amount of what building materials emit during their life cycle" (Ibid). 

Construction materials can also play a part in reducing carbon emissions.  Alternative cement (drawdown.org; Dec. 10, 2018), smart glass, and other materials can lessen a project's carbon footprint; consider users' transportation habits.  Ms. Conrad lists three elements that cities need to account for: "sources of carbon used to produce the project's materials; such as trees and wetlands, where carbon is stored; and costs, like carbon emitted during project maintenance"  (citylab.com; Dec. 6, 2018).  

Liz Enochs speculates that "Designing beyond net-zero Impact certainly possible" (Ibid). Case in point, The International Luving Future Institute presented over 60 projects that generate more energy than they consume.  The projects, a farmhouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan; an education center in Austin, Texas; and everything in between, have met the "Energy Petal" (living-future.org; date accessed Dec. 10, 2018) threshold within Living Future certification limits. Ms. Enochs describes, "This indicates that each generated at least 105 percent its energy needs in its first 12 months of operations. A handful of buildings generated 200 percent of their energy or more"  (citylab.com; Dec. 6, 2018).

Ryan Allard a senior fellow at Project Drawdown (drawdown.org; date accessed Dec. 10, 2018), a nonprofit reach and advocacy group, told panel on climate-positive design at the Global Climate Action Summit this past September,

As planners, you may come in and think of a development as an isolated project which is not fully connected with the rest of the city...  (citylab.com; Dec. 6, 2018).

Really, this not true because construction--new or rehab work--does impact the environment in various ways. 

Making a community or place climate-positive is of a challenge technology-wise than in terms of policy, thinking, and bureaucracy.  The usual case. Ms. Enochs cites two examples of how climate-positive design is achievable at the community level but still faces policy and mindset obstacles. 

First, the South Market neighborhood in San Francisco.  She reports, "...the city has approved a redevelopment plan that calls for recycling stir water runoff by channeling it to an underground tank and using it for street cleaning" (Ibid). Second, Boulder, Colorado developer Andrew Bush has found a unique method of heat transfer.  Ms. Enochs again, "...he can already build residential water systems that pull e heat from wastewater lines and transfer that energy to the drinking and showering water that tenants use.  He's now looking to tap into the heat generated from city sewer lines--but getting approval for that is complicated and takes time" (Ibid).

Right now, transportation is the largest generator of emissions (e360.yale.edu; Dec. 4, 2017; date accessed Dec. 10, 2018) in the United States.  According to Lisa Fisher, San Franciso's sustainabilty leader for urban design, "...transportation systems need to be designed or refined to prioritize walking, biking, and mass transit over driving,..." (citylab.com; Dec. 6, 2018).  Although building codes have become more strict (curbed.com; Mar. 23, 2018; date accessed Dec. 10, 2018) and some cities have adapted their ordinances to include carbon-reducing innovations like gray-water recycling and microgrids, "there must be a major shift in that direction quickly for climate-positivity to be feasible"  (citylab.com; Dec. 6, 2018).  

To date progress has moved at a snail's pace.

In 2009, the Clinton Climate Intiative launched the Climate Postive Program together with C40, and U.S. Green Building Council.  The focus is promoting one major project per city.  Ms. Enochs reports, "Eighteen cities around the world committed to achieve net-negative emissions through the program" (citylab.com; Dec. 6, 2018).  Nearly a decade later, only six cities--Sydney, London, Jaipur, Melbourne, Sonderborg, Denmark; Oberlin, Ohio (c40.org; date accessed Dec. 10, 2018)--have gone through to the second of four phases, highlighting the policy and bureaucratic obstacles face by designers, planners, and communities dedicated to achieve climate-positive design.