Climate Change

The key issue is not "global warming," but climate change.

The adverse biophysical changes being experienced by all species on the planet is beyond debate and is linked to man-made pollution and the climate changes happening right now on Earth.

The Earth changes in an abundance of ways... many of which are extreme in nature. There is little we can do to defy these natural shifts and changes. At the same time, however, mankind is creating many global shifts and changes of its own. Shifts that are affecting all species on the planet. The effects of man-made pollution are creating undeniable & adverse conditions for all life forms. Air quality, water purity, physical health and a host of other conditions vital to a functioning global ecosystem, are fundamentally the key issue in regards to the attention & resources of humanity. Debates do not provide any considerable progress in the arena of these concerns. Rather, they delay paramount action and render allocated resources in stagnation, thus multiplying the adverse effects in a compounding fashion... on a global scale.

Asthma rates in children are climbing in every locale where air pollution rates are identified as hazardous. How, then, does debating whether the cause is global warming or climate change work to improve the health and damaged D.N.A. of these children?

Forget the debate of "global warming!"

• Global, man-made pollution is a key issue to face.

• Global climate change is a key issue to face.

• Health of all life on earth is a key issue to face.

How will Obama’s energy polices affect our homes? We won’t really know until his proposals are debated and enacted by congress, but we can get a sense of what might happen from his campaign’s position statements. From his campaign website’s fact sheet his stated position on building energy efficiency is as follows:

“Obama…will establish a goal of making all new buildings carbon neutral, or produce zero emissions, by 2030. [He] will also establish a national goal of improving new building efficiency by 50 percent and existing building efficiency by 25 percent over the next decade to help us meet the 2030 goal.”

This is straight from the playbook of Ed Mazra’s Architecture 2030 Challenge. As evidenced by the following quote from the 2030 website, the 2030 Challenge is predicated on climate change and the reduction of green house gas emissions associated with the Building Sector.

for more go to: http://sunhomedesign.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/theobamaenergyplanandourho...

Here's an important roundup of news and articles from the past week that affect green building, or the future of green building.

1. A new report by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development found that the costs of green building are often misunderstood, and even overestimated by as much as 300%.
2. HGTV announces the Green Home Giveaway - they will build a home somewhere using eco-friendly materials and give it away in 2008.
3. Sun Microsystems completes next-generation, energy-efficient datacenters in California, the U.K, and India -- they expect to save over $1.1 million in energy costs per year.
4. Developing special lending programs dedicated to energy efficiency projects is a good way for banks to support green endeavors.
5. With climate change and 80% of the world's population living less than 30 miles from a coastline, Discovery talks about green principles in building a modern city.

Also posted at Jetson Green in the Week in Review column.