Surviving Climate Change: Producing Less and Enjoying it More

Panel 4: Redesigning Cities and Homes
Saturday, June 28, 3:45 — 5:15 pm

Ralph Wafer’s architectural firm in St. Louis focuses on re-use of existing buildings, reducing energy use and improving the vitality of existing neighborhoods. He has been a board member of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment for 20 years.

In my architectural practice I meet many people ready to reduce energy consumption, but very few who are willing to be extremely aggressive doing so. I count myself in that number.

My presentation will tout the virtue of incremental reductions in energy use within the home that are easy and relatively inexpensive to take. It will show what the potential savings in energy costs might be for actions that a homeowner may take to:

1. Replace a furnace, and
2. Replace incandescent lamps.

The benefit to the world of reducing the emissions for which one is responsible will be identified as will the short and long term economic benefit of taking action now.

Charts and tables will show the relationship of furnace efficiencies, the cost of natural gas and what the cost savings realized in reduced gas use. Similarly other charts will show the same relationship of lamp efficiencies, the cost of electricity and the cost savings realized in reduced use of electricity.

Pamela Talley, a member of the Coalition to Fight Eminent Domain Abuse in St. Louis, is the owner of a small private practice (Therapeutic Solutions) where she works as a nurse psychotherapist.

As a nurse and activist, fighting eminent domain abuse (the taking of private property by private developers for private gain) in an urban area, I see that redesigning cities and our homes to survive climate change presents both opportunities and challenges.

Communities of color must be a part of the decision making to plan for the challenges ahead. We must embrace design concepts that are socially responsible that take into account those quality of life issues that currently greatly impact our health and at the same time must keep our communities affordable. However, many of the design concepts put forth by planners are driven by profits and are unaffordable and unfamiliar for those communities of color impacted by race and class.

Darin Triplett has a Bachelors in Architecture from the University of Louisiana. He believes that good design is about creating effective relationships among spaces, materials, functions, resources and people, while honoring the social and environmental goals of society.

Dan Hatch has a Masters in Architecture. He worked at the Ecosa Institute for Sustainability and with Global Exchange. He is currently the director of Hatch Design Studio and a board member of Architects, Designers, and Planners for Social Responsibility.

Large-scale solutions during a time of an energy descent, economic turmoil, and corrupt leadership often overlook a large percentage of the population – specifically, those who cannot afford to enjoy the benefits. These types of solutions will only continue to divide the population. In order to achieve effective positive change, solutions must foster both social justice and environmental responsibility.

Architects, designers, and planners need to utilize their skills in a way that empowers ordinary citizens to collectively work towards grassroots solutions that are unique for their neighborhood, local resources, communities, and needs. Many grassroots projects are already taking place across the country that are redefining how we live, work, eat, and interact with each other and the planet. Our presentation will highlight some of these projects and discuss how design professionals can further this movement towards inclusive, community led ecological design.

We (Dan Hatch & Darin Triplett) will present these grassroots projects within the larger context of architecture and the building sector. In brief, the building sector is the world’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and fastest consumer of energy and materials. Great strides have been taken recently to “green” the building sector and architects have been leaders in this shift towards energy efficient buildings. However, this industry still has a very long way to go before will actually be sustainable.

It is estimated that by the year 2035, three quarters of the built environment in the U.S. will be either new or renovated. That includes low-income developments. This transformation over the next three decades presents a huge opportunity for building and design professionals to engage communities and citizens so that all members of society can benefit from a transition to more sustainable lifestyles and dwellings.

We will propose several ways that professionals and grassroots leaders can collaborate during the next three decades so that this inevitable transformation will be ecologically restorative and socially just.

Sabrina Hilton graduated from University of Illinois in Environmental Science and is currently developing the CSA project, Green Beings which is supported by land from Culver Way Ecovillage and a USDA grant.

Sabrina Hilton: The future residents of Metro Cohousing at Culver Way describe themselves as “families and individuals enjoying shared responsibility, creating a community that is vital, ecological and safe.” Cohousing is comprised of private self-sufficient homes clustered around a “common house” with shared facilities such as a big kitchen and dining room, a playroom for children, workshops, guest rooms, a library and a crafts room. The design program is created by the residents themselves.

In addition to the obvious social advantages of living near friends, cohousing residents have more free time because many of the routine activities of life can be shared such as dinners, gardens and yard work. Expensive and/or rarely used tools and recreational equipment purchased by the group are available to all. Car-pooling is easier to arrange. The first part of Culver Way Ecovillage is being created in the shell of three historic old factory buildings. Existing walls are being restored, and new ones are being built using post consumer polystyrene, reclaimed fly ash and recycled steel. Besides being very resource efficient this design has great insulating effects. There are also plans for geo-thermal wells which will take advantage of the ambient temperature of the earth for heating and cooling.

Culver Way Ecovillage has supported the development of the urban farm project, Green Beings CSA, which provides produce for the future residents, as well as for other low income individuals and trains them in skills like nutrition, food preparation and planning their own gardens with a goal of self-sufficiency. The buildings are designed to support the weight of roof top gardens. Some roof top gardening is already under way. It is impossible to quantify the reduction Culver Way is capable of. Compared to the standard of living in St. Louis, the environmental benefits will surely be significant, and the social benefits as well. At Ecovillage Ithaca in New York, they claim to have lowered their carbon footprint from 24 acres per person to 14.