Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Spring 2017 - 1

LAM INDEX

CLIMATE CHANGE
CAUSE FOR OPTIMISM
AND CONCERN

he cover of this Climate Change issue is from National
Geographic Magazine. It shows what the North American coastline would look like if all the ice on earth
melted, something that would take more than a thousand years. The loss of so many coastal cities is unimaginable! Yet our climate is changing faster than scientists
predicted twenty-five years ago. Many dangerous 'tipping
points' are approaching - threatening to accelerate the pace
of change even more - such as the destruction of the boreal
forest which sequesters carbon, and the loss of arctic ice
which reflects sunlight back to space.
Over the past year, there has been cause for both optimism
and concern. Green buildings, renewable energy, green roofs
and walls are all part of the solutions cities need to both mitigate and adapt to climate change. We have many of the technologies required to reduce greenhouse gases, but the question
is whether we have the social and political will to rapidly
deploy them in the face of powerful and entrenched interests.
The new Trump administration has the power to accelerate
the pace of positive change, and make America a cleantech,
green infrastructure and energy superpower, or, it can hamper
progress. Here's a quick recap of the past year in this 2017
LAM INDEX.
This issue is dedicated to exploring the intersection
of green roofs and walls and climate change! We have
the solutions; what we need is to marshal the resolve to
implement them.
Sincerely yours,

Steven W. Peck,
GRP, Honorary ASLA
Founder & President
LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM

1. N
ASA records the hottest
year on record for global
temperatures - 2016
2. Y
ear when the Arctic is
predicted to be totally ice
free in the summer - 2030
3. A
mount of the sun's
energy reflected by sea
ice preventing it from
warming the ocean - 70%
4. Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change
projected sea level rise
by 2100 from melting of
Antarctic and other ice -
19 to 23 inches
5. C
urrent loss of coral in
one-third of the Great
Barrier Reef off the
coast of Australia - 50%
6. N
umber of countries
that signed the Paris
Agreement and agreed
that climate change is
an urgent problem that
requires immediate
action - 193
7. T
emperature rise
target needed to avoid
catastrophic and
irreversible climate
change - 2 degrees C
8. N
umber of countries that
have ratified the Paris
agreement - 117

9. Estimated percentage
of fossil fuel reserves
of the top 100 coal, oil
and gas companies that
can be burned while still
remaining at the 2ºC
temperature target - 20%
10. N
umber of coal-fired
electricity plants under
construction or planned
recently cancelled by
China - 103
11. W
orld's electricity in
2015 that comes from
renewables - 28%
12. P
ercentage drop in
the cost of utility-scale
solar energy from
2015-16 - 12%
13. International Energy
Agency projected
growth in renewables
2015-2021 - 42%
14. T
otal dollars (US)
currently committed to
divesting in the fossil
fuel industry as of 2016 -
$5.2 trillion
15. N
umber of jobs created
from $1 million invested
in the oil and natural gas
industry - 0.8
16. N
umber of jobs created
from $1 million invested in
retrofitting buildings for
energy efficiency - 7

Image Credit: Treat, Jason/National Geographic Creative

LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / SPRING 2017 / 1

http://www.LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Spring 2017