On July 24, 2021, the AIA California Board of Directors officially declared a climate emergency to immediately accelerate the de-carbonization of the built environment. This action calls on each of us to make immediate and meaningful impacts in our profession, it enables AIA CA to move rapidly and boldly to influence public policy, and it challenges other organizations to join us in recognizing the importance of climate action and the immediacy of the issue. — AIA California
Wildfires have dominated the news cycle for three of the last four fire seasons. Architects all over the state have been proffering solutions ranging from ICFing homes to fireproof prefabricated Quonset huts.
The AIA declaration comes on the heels of the UN’s devastating Climate Action Report. The chapter had recently issued a statement urging the legislature to adopt updated building code policies across the state, which has lost nearly 60,000 structures to fires since 2005.
California is experiencing a historic drought that has coincided with a multipronged housing crisis. More people have left the state than moved in for the first time in history. The AIA's full emergency declaration can be accessed here.
8 Comments
Yes because the AIA is in charge of declaring national emergencies and so many agencies rely on AIA for critical decision making…
Not just agencies, but also the general population.
Will the AIA be asking for additional dues from members to pay for the emergency?
I'm going to sit tight until NCARB declares an emergency.
How about clearing out the dead trees and underbrush from the forests? The area will always have forest fires started by lightning. The idea is to keep them small and manageable. Some species of trees, such as the Loblolly Pine, require forest fires to release their seeds from the cones.
Just chiming in to say that this sentiment gets a lot of pushback, because people picture the Forest Service going in with shovels + rakes (which is absurd over tens of millions of acres. Think about it). However, this is in some sense proper forest management, except the way to do it is with safe prescribed burns in off-seasons.
https://news.berkeley.edu/2021/08/09/how-wildfire-restored-a-yosemite-watershed/
I'm keeping the panic at bay by imagining the interesting newly refreshed forests my kid will get to explore 20-30 years from now.
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