A Taste of the Future

Posted on November 10, 2016November 18, 2016 by Building The World

Spice market, Marrakech. Photographer, Michal Ostend, 2011. Image: wikimedia commons.

7 November 2016: the United Nations convened COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco. Following the historic international consensus achieved at COP21, more than 100 countries have now ratified the Paris Agreement. “This is our moment to take the climate agreement as the central pillar of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” stated Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UNFCC. In recognition of the Paris Agreement coming into force, the Eiffel Tower lighted the way in green. Recent developments in some areas, including the United States, may influence the success; can C-Roads help? The goals: bringing the Paris Agreement into the next stage through funding and plans for concrete implementation.

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Chill — Out

Posted on October 21, 2016 by Building The World

“Snow Flake” by Wilson Bentley, photographer. Image: wikimedia commons.

Kigali: The world has agreed to protect the environment by phasing out harmful coolants in refrigerators and air conditioners. Almost 200 countries, equivalent to the number of nations that signed the COP 21 Paris Agreement not far from Eiffel Tower, agreed to the amendment to the Montreal Protocol. One of the most dangerous causes of greenhouse gases, HFCs produce 100 to 1000 times more than carbon dioxide. Rwanda’s minister of natural resources, Dr. Vincent Biruta, gaveled the historic moment.

For more:

Harder, Amy and Russel Gold. “Companies Readying for New Limits to Emissions for Air Conditioners and Refrigerators.” The Wall Street Journal. 15 October 2016.

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Antique Road Show: Paris bans Past to save Future

Posted on July 14, 2016July 14, 2016 by Building The World

Deux Chevaux or 2CV. Cars made before 1987 banned in Paris to improve environment. Image: wikimedia commons.

Known for fine vintage fashion and cognac, for museums enshrining glories of centuries past, city of connoisseurs of aged fromage et vin, Paris will no longer welcome antique automobiles. July, month of the revolution, marked the change: no cars made before 1997 will be allowed on the boulevards on weekdays, between 8am – 8pm. Regulations will tighten soon: in 2020, cars built before 2010 will be restricted. In 2014, after smog veiled the Eiffel Tower, Paris banned half its autos on the road, alternating days by license plates, a practice followed in Mexico City and elsewhere. Effects were so dramatic that the city cancelled the plan after 24 hours after pollution cleared, perhaps in part responding to complaints of 3,859 drivers fined for driving on the wrong day. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York, co-chaired a meeting of mayors in parallel with COP21. The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, now brings together 7100 cities from 119 countries. Cities may be able to change policy faster than nations; St. Petersburg once demanded one stone as price of admission to the city. If cities can accelerate environmental improvement, ‘Banned in Boston’ could take on new meaning.

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Building a Better World: Climate

Posted on December 14, 2015August 1, 2018 by Building The World

“Looking up from the center of the Eiffel Tower.” Photographer: Jebulon, 2011. Image: wikimedia

World-inclusive agreements, such as the International Meridian Conference, or the UN Paris Climate Accord, are historic. In such accords, the world agrees upon its future. Recently, the world came together to pledge improve to earth’s climate. Throughout the Paris negotiations, the Eiffel Tower served as signpost. While some might complain the Paris agreement could have been more demanding, and some nations advocated 1.5 as a goal, many hope that COP 21 will spur actions to build a better world. What other kinds of world-inclusive agreements are needed? And, in the light of Paris, what can you do to improve climate? Here is a link to Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Up on a Roof

Posted on November 13, 2015November 13, 2015 by Building The World

Will COP 21 mandate green and solar roofs worldwide? Image: Vincent Van Gogh, “View of Roofs and Backs of Houses,” 1886, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam and wikimedia commons.

When Vincent Van Gogh visited Paris, the artist was inspired to paint views glimpsed from his room in Montmartre. In the city famous for the Eiffel Tower, aerial views will take on new significance. France has legislated all new construction in commercial zones must have green or solar roofs. Canada inaugurated a similar environmental policy in Toronto; fines for non-compliance can reach $100,000. Brasilia is the first city designed to be viewed from the air; perhaps green or solar roofs will soon color the picture. Green roofs are not a new idea; in fact, the expression ‘raining cats and dogs’ may refer to denizens of thatched cottage roofs tumbling from habitual nests during a storm. Will the United Nations Climate Conference COP 21 recommend green and solar roofs worldwide?

France: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/20/france-decrees-new-rooftops-must-be-covered-in-plants-or-solar-panels

Toronto’s legislation: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/municode/1184_492.pdf

UN Climate Conference COP 21: http://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Go Blue

Posted on October 27, 2015October 27, 2015 by Building The World

Eiffel Tower, one of 200 iconic monuments and buildings illumined in blue to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the United Nations. Image: wikimedia commons.

October 24, 2015: 70th anniversary of the United Nations. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proclaimed: “By turning the world UN Blue for a day, we can light the way to a better tomorrow.” More than 200 famed structures joined the blue light celebration, including the Eiffel Tower in Paris where the UN Climate Conference will meet to build a better world. How might iconic buildings spark public awareness of world issues?

For original charter of the United Nations: https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/ctc/uncharter.pdf

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Failure to Success: Roskilde

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Building The World

Architect Erick van Egeraat has designed a waste-to-energy plant to echo the iconic 13th century cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark. Image: wikimedia commons.

Europe’s inspirational great cathedrals, or Asia’s impressive Buddhist stupas, might be considered among the first skyscrapers. Like France’s Eiffel Tower, or India’s Taj Mahal, a new edifice in Denmark will define the landscape. Giving new meaning to spiritual fire by echoing the shape of the famous Roskilde Cathedral, Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat has designed a power plant transforming residential and industrial waste into electricity. Similar achievements may emerge from a new Harvard degree program combining engineering and design. Can art and architecture improve public acceptance of using waste to power the future, turning failure into success?

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Going Up?

Posted on August 25, 2015August 24, 2015 by Building The World

Canada may win the space race, or at least leap ahead, as a professor at York University in Ontario wins U.S. and U.K. patent and building rights for the space elevator. Dr. Brendan Quine, chief technology officer, and Rhodes scholar Dr. Caroline Roberts, CEO for Thoth Technologies, will bring to fulfillment an idea first suggested in 1895 by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky who was inspired by the Eiffel Tower. When space exploration began with Sputnik and the Apollo lunar landing, rockets proved an effective means for reaching orbit. But booster rockets are environmentally expensive, and financially wasteful when used as disposable launch vehicles (propellents account for only 0.4% of a rocket’s cost). The space elevator is reusable, and could be matched with reusable technologies in development by SpaceX. Passengers may be invited for the trip. Going up?

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Iconic Arch

Posted on March 24, 2015March 18, 2015 by Building The World

Gateway Arch St. Louis Photographer Jason Lusk on blog Building the World — “St. Louis Gateway Arch” Photographer: Jason Lusk.

St. Louis, Gateway City, is known by its iconic arch. Designed by Eero Saarinen, the 192 meter (630 feet) is the world’s tallest arch. St. Louis is the gateway to the western United states, opened by explorers Lewis and Clark, who traveled the Mississippi River on which St. Louis stands. On March 28, 1934, Congress proposed a federal commission to develop the iconic memorial, the design chosen by competition. An unusual process, subject to legal challenges, was instituted to acquire the 82-acre site. Similarly, the Eiffel Tower, iconic monument of Paris, was the result of a competition won by Gustave Eiffel. What is the role of iconic monuments, and public art, in the world’s great cities?

www.gatewayarch.com

http://www.toureiffel.paris/

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

La Tour Eiffel

Posted on June 18, 2014June 21, 2014 by Building The World

France is the county that coined the phrase les grand travaux (large-scale engineering works). Gustave Eiffel’s design for the tower that would take his name utilized new materials with which architects and engineers were beginning to become familiar. Before, les grands travaux were large in the sense of being wide and long, and were often based on stone construction: canals, aqueducts, bridges. The Eiffel Tower is a pioneering work illlustrating aerodynamics of high frames. Using a mathematical formula to determine the curve of the structure’s base needed to withstand the force of the wind against it, Eiffel transformed that force into added structural support. Eiffel’s physics, described in his book “The Resistance of the Air” (1913), gave birth to the skyscrapers we see in many of the world’s cities. In 2014, the Eiffel Tower celebrates its 125th year of great success.

For more on the Eiffel Tower, http://www.toureiffel.paris/

To read the chapter, http://buildingtheworld.com/book/featured/

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.