The building sector has a uniquely intimate relationship to global warming. One the one hand, cities consume 78% of the world’s energy and are responsible for more than 60% of global carbon emissions; building maintenance accounts for nearly 50% of energy usage and construction is one of the most environmentally destructive of human activities. On the other, better design represents one of humanity’s best—and most feasible—opportunities to reduce global carbon emissions and help prepare for inevitable changes to our environment.

It’s therefore highly appropriate that a group of Chicago-based architects have recently launched an online initiative calling for action on climate change. Following five weeks of grassroots outreach, sixty-six architecture firms and six design industry-related companies have joined the public outreach campaign, dubbed Architects Advocate: Action on Climate Change. Now they plan to rapidly expand to the rest of the United States.

Supporters of the campaign are provided with a banner to be displayed on their homepage, and the messaging is meant to be adopted by other professional groups like Engineers Advocate and Manufactures Advocate. The banners, which express the group’s message and mission statement, come in short and long form.

According to a press release, the goals of the group are to “make the voices of the architecture community heard by the general public and by those who are entrusted to legislate and govern, and to keep growing the movement. Initiative supporters are encouraged to speak out and to share their stories on social and print media, as well as to appear on radio and TV shows.” 

"Climate change has yielded dramatic, potentially irreversible changes to our communities," states the Chicago-based architect Tom Jacobs, who initially conceived the idea. "The core of our effort is the belief that a healthy environment is a civil right, that we need to enact meaningful legislation to mitigate Climate Change, and that architects need to publicly speak out on behalf of this goal by sharing their knowledge and actions creating livable communities."

For more information on how to get involved in the campaign, visit www.architects-advocate.com.