Design Observer :: Join the Discussion http://places.designobserver.com/feature/climate-change-and-public-works/37648/ en-us Design Observer Group 2013-01-23T13:59:20-05:00 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0
Thanks for the great comments. I agree, it's a big challenge to put climate change — and its unfolding effects on our environment — on the political agenda. Especially when there are so many big problems that feel more immediate, whether jobs and the economy or immigration reform or gun control. Just today I heard a radio commentary to the effect that "Hurricane Sandy was no Sandy Hook" in terms of giving the issue real political traction.

It would be great if the AIA were to galvanize its organization and networks and mount a strong campaign on climate change and urban design. Right now it's hard to detect any focused effort; for instance, if you search for "climate change" on the national website, the results contain a lot of outdated PDFs and "page not found" links. And yes, the ArchiPAC contributions are trivial these days; they won't result in any real influence.

So one question would then be: To what extent might the professional associations — the AIA, and also the ASLA, APA, AICP — function as the organizational vehicles for sustained political advocacy, for an ongoing movement? Perhaps in collaboration, so the efforts would gain strength in numbers? This approach would depend upon the efforts of leading practitioners, but it might work.

But it would also be valuable for design activists to join forces with the environmental lobby, which is itself highly networked — check out the "partners" pages of groups like 350.org, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Citizens Climate Lobby, etc.

In his Rolling Stone article, Bill McKibben makes a provocative argument to the effect that the climate change cause needs an enemy. As he writes: "The paths we have tried to tackle global warming have so far produced only gradual, halting shifts. A rapid, transformative change would require building a movement, and movements require enemies." McKibben argues that the fossil-fuel industry is a good candidate to be public enemy number one, since — and here he quotes Naomi Klein — "wrecking the planet is their business model."

Here on Places we welcome articles that continue the discussion on design and climate change, and how professional activism might contribute to a political movement.
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