Paul Ehrlich has a new book out, Humanity on a Tightrope. Paul McDonnough new book posits that we "remake the way we make things" to provide for a cradle ot cradle approach. Clearly humans have exceeded the carrying capacity of the planet for all species that were here when homo sapiens took over from neanderthals 50,000 - 100,000 years ago. (species are going extinct at an increasing rate). The challenge that Ehrlich poses for mankind is for the 7 billion living on the planet today the "us" to be able to empathize with all the unborn "them" the billions of humans who will popluate the planet in the future. Due to humans evolution this is a much bigger challenge that we might imagine. Due to climate change even providing for a planetary population of 9 billion in 2050 is going to be incrementally more challenging than any of the planning design and construction that has been done in the past. We really need to understand as a planet, that we cannot expand the foot print of the built environment any further. As practicioners we are struggling to bring in work and keep the doors open as a profession we need to show up at city council meeting and planning commissions etc. as citizen architects and challenge any future development that is not truly sustainable regarding transportation, energy use, water, land use, etc.
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Nathaniel Wilson AIA, AICP, LEED AP
Campus Architect / Environmental Planner
California State University-Northridge
Northridge CA
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