The ESA Project

Written on 10/21 at 10:28 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

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I want to discuss my semestre-long graduate seminar project. Several weeks ago our class of nine divided into three groups of three, each assigned to a different project related to the broad theme of carbon neutrality. I was assigned to the Ecological Society of America (ESA) group. Our job is to look at the carbon emissions resulting from the ESA's yearly operations, find ways to reduce those emissions and then suggest methods of offsetting the rest. We already know that the primary source of carbon emissions is the group's annual conference, held in early August, to which about 4,000 people fly, drive or take the train.



Why Build Green?

Written on 09/30 at 10:31 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

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I wrote this essay for my Sustainable Design in the Built Environment Class. In it, I pretend to be an architect writing a letter to a potential client, explaining to him how green building works and why he or she should choose me, a green architectA letter to John Mench Schnook"Here are my rules: what can be done with one substance must never be done with another. No two materials are alike. No two sites on earth are alike. No two buildings have the same purpose. The purpose, the site, the material determine the shape.



Lessons From the Past: Moving into the 22nd Century

Written on 09/26 at 10:31 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

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The following is a speech given to the United Nations by Andy Posner, the world-renowned environmental activist, on January 20th, 2035. The IPCC (Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change) has just released its eighth climate assessment report, in which it is stated that, thanks to the re-working of the second-phase of the Kyoto Protocol, signed in 2012, worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases have stabilized at 480 PPM C02e, and have indeed begun to fall.



The Real-World Comes to Class

Written on 09/15 at 10:39 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

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Last Friday in my graduate seminar class titled "Carbon Neutrality: Fact or Fiction?" the real-world came to our class in the form of a businessman/entrepreneur, and the director of policy and legislative affairs for the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island. They came to discuss the semestre-long project upon which our class will be embarking. The idea is that we will divide up into three teams of three, and each team will be assigned to work for a client, working on the question of whether or not they can become "carbon neutral," what that would mean, and if they should pursue that course or simply one of "reduced emissions."



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