climate change – DesignApplause

the beginning is the most important part of the work. hello 2023.

Dec 11, 2022

“the beginning is the most important part of the work.” – plato

all of us are really wanting a fresh new year! this video made in 2019 by tbwa/paris for the national society of french railways (sncf) captures what our mind’s eye was seeking: a celebration of new life, a feeling of hope and optimism. may all your plans bloom and blossom beyond your wildest dreams.

the video was a way for the sncf to give thanks to those “preserving the planet” by traveling by train. according to the sncf, trains give off 30 times less co2 than individual cars and 20 times less than planes. thus, the national railway body is positioning itself as a healthy alternative to other modes of transport.

to illustrate this sentiment, the successive blooming of flowers – a time lapse that covers 200 hours. to capture each one of the 50 varieties included, every flower was photographed once every five seconds, day and night, which accumulated in 14,000 images per flower.

in the film, every flower that blooms is accompanied by the wheezing bang of fireworks, to illustrate the celebratory nature of the campaign. the sncp aims to transition from diesel-powered rail to developing stations that are autonomously powered by 2035.

#hello2023

anne lacaton and jean-philippe vassal receive the 2021 pritzker architecture prize.

Mar 16, 2021

above/below > cap ferret house. photography: lacaton & vassal

in a timely nod to planet earth’s need to support life, french social housing architects, anne lacaton and jean-philippe vassal, founders of studio lacaton & vassal, have been named the 2021 winners of the pritzker architecture prizepritzker architecture prize.

their recognition marks the first time a french female architect has won the prize, with lacaton becoming the sixth woman to receive the award since it was established in 1979.

“good architecture is open—open to life, open to enhance the freedom of anyone, where anyone can do what they need to do,” says lacaton. “it should not be demonstrative or imposing, but it must be something familiar, useful and beautiful, with the ability to quietly support the life that will take place within it.”

“our work is about solving constraints and problems, and finding spaces that can create uses, emotions and feelings. at the end of this process and all of this effort, there must be lightness and simplicity, when all that has been before was so complex,” explains vassal.

above > anne lacaton and jean-philippe vassal. photography: laurent chalet

above / below > residential and office building, photo courtesy of philippe ruault

above > site for contemporary creation, phase 2, palais de tokyo, photo courtesy of philippe ruault

above >129 units, ourcq-juarès student and social housing. photography: philippe ruault

above > école nationale supérieure d’architecture de nantes

above > 53 units, low-rise apartments, social housing. photography: philippe ruault

above / below > latapie house. photography: philippe ruault

above / below > frac nord-pas de calais | image courtesy of philippe ruault

above > house in bordeaux. photography: philippe ruault

[ jury citation ]
“not only have they defined an architectural approach that renews the legacy of modernism, but they have also proposed an adjusted definition of the very profession of architecture. the modernist hopes and dreams to improve the lives of many are reinvigorated through their work that responds to the climatic and ecological emergencies of our time, as well as social urgencies, particularly in the realm of urban housing. they accomplish this through a powerful sense of space and materials that creates architecture as strong in its forms as in its convictions, as transparent in its aesthetic as in its ethics,” states the 2021 jury citation, in part.

[ 2021 jury ]
alejandro aravena, chair , barry bergdoll, deborah berke, stephen breyer , andré aranha corrêa do lago, kazuyo sejima, wang shu, benedetta tagliabue, martha thorne, executive director, manuela lucá-dazio, advisor

[ purpose ]
to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture. awarded each year, the international prize is often referred to as the profession’s highest honor.

ge ginormous haliade-x 14mw wind turbine a great fit for world largest wind farm.

Jan 10, 2021

the buoyant offshore wind market wants the biggest and most powerful turbines only.

in the u.s.a., 2021 reopens the prospect of revitalizing a climate agenda which encompasses renewable energy, which, as the name suggests, is always available. global governments and companies have figured out that solar and wind are the best prospects for the future, though location and seasonal variables come into play. for example, solar and wind energy are a strong combination and wind energy is currently a better option to supplement solar energy in winter.

the buoyant offshore wind market wants the biggest and most powerful turbines only. conceived in 2008, the dogger bank wind farm, located off the north-east coast of england, is slated to be the largest in the world with offshore construction expected to begin in 2022 with contractors using specialist vessels to install the offshore infrastructure. the first phase is expected to be operational in 2023. the wind farm will be completed in three phases before reaching full commercial operations in 2026.

two weeks ago ge made an end-of-the year announcement which boasts that their ginormous ge renewable energy’s haliade-x 14 mw had just been awarded for the final phase c. in 2019 the 13 mw model had already been awarded the first two phases a&b. ge renewable energy has been working on this wind turbine concept since 2018.

[ key features ]
> designed for all wind speeds
> recommended for offshore high wind locations
> has a 220-meter rotor and a 107-meter (longer than a football field) blade
> the wind turbine offers three models: a 14 mw, 13 mw or 12 mw
> one rotation could power a household for two days
> one 13w turbine can light up a town of 12,000 homes
> sensors gather data of wind speeds, output, and component stresses
> wind farm first two phases will total of 190 haliade-x 13 mw offshore wind turbines. the final phase features the 14 mw turbine.
> upon completion the wind farm is expected to power up to 6 million homes annually in the uk, equivalent to 5% of the uk’s total electricity demand.

above > dogger bank wind farm

the battle for size continues unabated. siemens-gamesa has announced its next model, the 14mw sg 14-222 dd offshore wind turbine. the race is expected to end at about 20 mw.

note: at this writing the haliade-x is only a prototype

#climatechange #climatecontrol #windturbine

earth day 2020 is themed climate action and designed to watch from home.

Apr 21, 2020

[ earth day ] the organization, created the first earth day on 22 april 1970. since then over 1 billion individuals have mobilized for the future of the planet via the earth day network. 75,000+ partners in over 190 countries are now working to drive positive action.

their mission? to build the world’s largest environmental movement to drive transformative change for people and planet.

above > new york city’s fifth avenue is filled with thousands of people when the street was closed to motor traffic for the first earth day on 22 april 22 1970 / image by © bettmann/corbis | photo credit: tommy japan

the theme for earth day 2020 is climate action. the enormous challenge — but also the vast opportunities — of action on climate change have distinguished the issue as the most pressing topic for the 50th anniversary.

above > climate strikers take to the streets of new york city in september 2019 for global strikes coordinated by the fridays for future youth climate movement | photo credit: inma galvez-shorts

on 22 april most of us will be staying at home. but, there are a lot of events to see ! [ earth day live ! ] [ earth day instagram ] [ american museum of natural history ] [ nasa ] [ space.com ] [ the world around ]

[ take action register your digital earth day event ]

#climateaction #earthdayathome #earth #environment #earthday2020

uk court over climate concerns blocks heathrow expansion.

Feb 27, 2020

above left > aircraft landing at heathrow airport over horses in a nearby field. photo: chris j ratcliffe / getty images

uk walking the talk and the world says bloody good news. ~ DA editor

heathrow airport’s plans to increase capacity of europe’s biggest travel hub by over 50% were stalled when a british court said the government failed to consider its commitment to combat climate change when it approved the project.

“the paris agreement ought to have been taken into account by the secretary of state,” lord justice lindblom wrote thursday, referring to the landmark climate deal in which nearly 200 countries vowed in 2015 to reduce their greenhouse emissions.

last year, the u.k. also became the first of the major group of seven countries to enact a pledge aiming to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 — a pledge that the office of chris grayling, then the secretary of state for transport, failed to keep in mind when crafting the plans in its airports national policy statement.

“that, in our view, is legally fatal to the anps in its present form,” lindblom said.

ultimately, the legal challenge decided thursday succeeded on environmental grounds. plan b, the climate-focused legal charity that brought the claim, cheered the decision as a landmark that “will be hugely influential across the uk and around the world.”

“the message is finally getting through,” the group said in a statement released thursday. “the bell is tolling on the carbon economy loud and clear.”

greta thunberg, the teen climate activist named time magazine‘s person of the year in 2019, also celebrated the decision: “imagine when we all start taking the paris agreement into account,” she tweeted thursday.

“we have not decided, and could not decide, that there will be no third runway at heathrow,” he wrote. “we have not found that a national policy statement supporting this project is necessarily incompatible with the united kingdom’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change under the paris agreement, or with any other policy the government may adopt or international obligation it may undertake.”

still, the plan isn’t exactly dead — a point that justice lindblom himself made clear in the judgment. he said the decision rests on a failure to consider the country’s climate commitments, not a fundamental incompatibility with those commitments.

and heathrow airport holdings has no intention of backing down, saying “the court of appeal dismissed all appeals agains the government – including ‘noise’ and ‘air quality’ – apart from one which is eminently fixable.””

we will appeal to the supreme court on this one issue and are confident that we will be successful. in the meantime we are ready to work with the government to fix the issue that the court has raised.

heathrow has taken a lead in getting the uk aviation sector to commit to a plan to get to net zero emissions by 2050, in line with the paris accord. expanding heathrow, britain’s biggest port and only hub, is essential to achieving the prime minister’s vision of global britain. we will get it done the right way without jeopardizing the plant’s future. let’s get heathrow done. [ npr ]

“airlines, for all intents and purposes, are becoming more fuel efficient. but we’re seeing demand outstrip any of that,” said brandon graver, who led the new study. “the climate challenge for aviation is worse than anyone expected.” [ nyt ]

unregulated carbon pollution from aviation is the fastest-growing source of the greenhouse gas emissions driving global climate change. in fact, if the entire aviation sector were a country, it would be one of the top 10 carbon-polluting nations on the planet. [ wwf ]

it’s about time greta thunberg for your #climatestrike.

Dec 18, 2019

above >thunberg skipping school in august 2018, sitting in front of swedish parliament to demand climate action / michael campanella—getty images

starting in august 2018, a swedish 15-year-old greta thunberg began a global movement by skipping school. she did so by setting up shop in front of the swedish parliament holding a sign painted in black letters on a white background that read skolstrejk för klimatet: “school strike for climate.” her question for adults, for people in charge: if you don’t care about my future on earth, why should i care about my future in school?

by now you know the time magazine 2019 person of the year is greta thunberg. the runners up were: hong kong protesters (won the readers poll), nancy pelosi, donald trump, the whistleblower in trump-ukraine scandal.

winning does come with controversy. but we won’t talk about that at this time. here.

on the first day of her climate strike, thunberg sat alone. she posted about her strike on social media, and a few journalists came by to talk to her, but she spent day one alone.

on day two a stranger joined her. “that was a big step, from one to two,” she recalls. “this is not about me striking; this is now us striking from school.” within a couple of days, a handful more joined in. then they became a group – from one person pushing back became two, then 10, then 50, then hundreds. then thousands

by september, enough people had joined her climate strike in stockholm that she announced she would continue every friday until sweden aligned with the paris agreement.

the fridays for future movement was born.

at the end of 2018, tens of thousands of students across europe began skipping school on fridays to protest their own leaders’ inaction. in january, 35,000 schoolchildren protested in belgium following thunberg’s example. the movement struck a chord. when a belgian environmental minister insulted the strikers, a public outcry forced her to resign.

a year later in september 2019, the climate strikes had spread beyond northern europe. in london, 100,000 swarmed the streets near westminster abbey. in new york city, 250,000 reportedly marched in battery park and outside city hall. in germany, a total of 1.4 million people took to the streets, with thousands flooding the brandenburg gate in berlin and marching in nearly 600 other cities and towns across the country.

on 20-27 september 2019, a global climate strike brought an estimated 4 million people of all ages to protest. their signs told a story. in london: the world is hotter than young leonardo dicaprio. in turkey: every disaster movie starts with a scientist being ignored. in new york: the dinosaurs thought they had time, too. hundreds carried images of thunberg or painted her quotes onto poster boards. make the world greta again became a rallying cry. the 20 september protests were likely the largest climate strikes in world history. more than 2,000 scientists in 40 countries pledged to support the strikes.

in a little more than a year, one frightened, angry, defiant 16-year-old, became a game-changer, became an icon who brought climate to the forefront. after noticing a hundredfold increase in its usage, lexicographers at collins dictionary named thunberg’s pioneering idea, climate strike, the word of the year.

bravo greta !

greta is the z generation – ages 7 to 22. in 2050 she will be 46. in 2080 grandchildren will be 25. according to a december amnesty international survey, young people in 22 countries identified climate change as the most important issue facing the world. they know how much adults are failing them.

above> greta thunberg smiles during a press conference / lito lizana/sopa images/shutterstock

[ time person of the year ] the tradition of selecting a man of the year began in 1927, with time editors contemplating the news makers of the years. the idea was also an attempt to remedy the editorial embarrassment earlier that year of not having aviator charles lindbergh (see guinnes world records below) on its cover following his historic trans-atlantic flight. by the end of the year, it was decided that a cover story featuring lindbergh as the man of the year would serve both purposes.

in 1999, the title was changed to person of the year. since the list began, every serving president of the united states has been a man or person of the year at least once with the exceptions of calvin coolidge, herbert hoover, and gerald ford.

record-breaking american aviator charles lindbergh became the first person to be named time man of the year in 1927

[ guinness world records ] thunberg takes the crown of youngest time person of the year from us aviator charles lindbergh (1902–74). he received the accolade at the age of 25 years 332 days as of the 2 jan 1928 issue.

[ quotables ]

“we can’t just continue living as if there was no tomorrow, because there is a tomorrow, that is all we are saying.” – greta

“i want you to panic, i want you to feel the fear i feel every day. and then i want you to act.” – greta to the annual convention of ceos and world leaders at the world economic forum in davos, switzerland, in january.

“people are underestimating the force of angry kids. we are angry and frustrated, and that is because of good reason. if they want us to stop being angry then maybe they should stop making us angry.” – greta

“for sounding the alarm about humanity’s predatory relationship with the only home we have, for bringing to a fragmented world a voice that transcends backgrounds and borders, for showing us all what it might look like when a new generation leads, greta thunberg is time’s 2019 ‘person of the year.” – time’s editor-in-chief edward felsenthal penned a column explaining the choice.

brilliant decision for @time to choose @gretathunberg as its person of the year. greta embodies the moral authority of the youth activist movement demanding that we act immediately to solve the climate crisis. she is an inspiration to me and to people across the world. – @algore

“don’t let anyone dim your light, like the girls i’ve met in vietnam and all over the world, you have so much to offer us all.” – the former first lady michelle obama wrote on twitter

“so ridiculous,” “greta must work on her anger management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! chill greta, chill!” ~ donald j. trump

“a teenager working on her anger management problem. currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend.” – greta’s twitter bio in response to potus tweet

@gretathunberg @time @greenpeaceusa #climatestrike #fridaysforfuture #parentsforfuture #climate #climatechange

exhibition road day of design at V&A for london design festival 2019.

Sep 22, 2019

for the finale of london design festival at the v&a, the museum will host a special event on exhibition road focusing on design solutions to the climate emergency.

together with the design museum, natural history museum, science museum, imperial college london and brompton design district, the v&a will host a street celebration to look at the role design thinking can play in fostering new ideas and changing attitudes to the way we consume food, use energy and deal with waste.

experts from the v&a and its neighboring institutions will host tables – created from upcycled museum packing crates – on which meals will be served created from ‘waste’ produce, highlighting the fact that one-third of all food grown or manufactured in the world is thrown out – enough to feed 870 million people. the upcycled furniture created by london’s design community, will then be given away to community gardens and charities tackling homelessness.

exhibition road will be further animated with talks, workshops and installations focusing on these challenges and the power of design to address the key issues of the age; and to inspire the design community and public to help tackle climate change.

supported by the royal commission for the exhibition of 1851

22 september 2019
10.00 – 17.45

v&a
cromwell rd, knightsbridge
london
SW7 5BD

tube > south kensington

#ldf19 #victoriaandalbertmuseum

matthew mccormick unveils avalanche at the v&a museum during london design festival

Sep 14, 2019

canadian designer matthew mccormick is proud to present avalanche, a temporary installation at the victoria & albert museum for the 2019 london design festival. a highly experiential exhibit, the installation seeks to fuel thoughtful introspection on the effects of climate change through the artist’s interpretation of what it feels when trapped inside a torrential snow slide – a tangible result of our planet’s fluctuating weather conditions.

a nod to the chaos and power driven by mother nature on our environment, mccormick marries light with material within an imposing, seamlessly executed box at the v&a conspicuously located on the landing of the british gallery. the exterior exhibit highlights mccormick’s contemporary design ethos in the classically historic space, making it impossible to ignore. from within, it is a hybrid between an interactive reflection chamber and an artistic metaphor representing a skewed sense of scale and reality. more specifically, it is a designer’s interpretation of a suspended moment in time where visitors are caught in an avalanche and faced with a mindful revelation of their own mortality.

tube: south kensington

#LDF @L_D_F
#LDF19
#avalanche
#climatechange

macarthur foundation will award $100 million for a pressing problem/solution proposal.

Jun 2, 2016

[ macarthur foundation official release ] a new competition launched today will award a $100 million grant to a single proposal designed to help solve a critical problem affecting people, places, or the planet. the foundation’s competition, called 100&change, is open to organizations working in any field of endeavor anywhere. applicants must identify both the problem they are trying to solve, as well as their proposed solution. competitive proposals will be meaningful, verifiable, durable, and feasible.

“solving society’s most pressing problems isn’t easy, but we believe it can be done,” said macarthur president julia stasch. “potential solutions may go unnoticed or under resourced and are waiting to be brought to scale. every three years, we plan to award $100 million to help make one of these solutions a reality. through 100&change, we want to inspire, encourage, and support other people’s ideas, here in our hometown chicago, across the nation and around the world, about how to address major challenges and enable real progress toward a solution.”

the selection process for 100&change is rigorous, fair, and transparent. each valid proposal will be reviewed by a panel of expert judges from a variety of fields, and evaluated according to a strict set of criteria designed to favor proposals that maximize measurable impact in their chosen areas. information about the judges and their evaluation methodology will be shared publicly via the competition website. participants will receive feedback on their proposals from the judges.

“we believe that 100&change can have a ripple effect beyond what a single $100 million grant enables,” said cecilia conrad, macarthur’s managing director leading the competition.

“setting audacious goals is inspiring. clear evidence of impact can encourage other funders to invest in solvable problems more broadly, and applicants who do not receive the $100 million grant will still receive valuable feedback on and attention to their ideas.”

100&change will consider applications from across the united states and around the world. nonprofit and for-profit organizations can apply, subject to eligibility rules. the competition will not accept applications from individuals or government agencies.

to participate, applicants must first register on the website by september 2, 2016. then they must complete a substantive online application, detailing the problem, solution, and budget, along with posting a video pitch. proposals will be accepted through october 3, 2016. semi-finalists will be announced in december. each semi-finalist will receive assistance from an expert team to identify and address questions about technical and organizational capacity required to implement each proposed solution, including specific plans to monitor, evaluate, and learn during implementation. each semi-finalist will also be asked to show significant, authentic engagement with affected communities. macarthur’s board of directors will select finalists in the summer of 2017. finalists will present their solutions during a live event in the fall of 2017, after which the board will make the final decision about the $100 million grant recipient.

[ macarthur foundation ]

Climate change and the perils of inaction.

Mar 4, 2014

climate change and the perils of inaction. never mind that carbon dioxide in atmosphere is up nearly a quarter since 1960 and higher than any time in past 800,000 years. via chicago tribune [RK]