About
Shared Responsibility (Goal 12)
What if we had a circular economy, and we didn't need to take more non-renewable resources from the environment?
What if all buildings were net-zero, or even net-positive, generating energy instead of consuming it; and could even grow our food with vertical farming?
What if people stopped eating animals and could just grow their own food?
These are the questions I’ve been asking myself and others since 1984. At that time, I saw a documentary series called “A Planet for the Taking” by David Suzuki on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). It showed the unbelievable drive of people to consume everything, the horrific treatment of animals, and the unchecked spread of destruction without any ethical thought or consideration. It was – and is still – clear to me that this state of affairs is completely unnecessary and that we can fix this. I believe the key to successfully turning things around is for everyone to have a deep feeling of shared responsibility.
City of impossible foods, text: Tom Jenkins, photography: Alanna Hale, (2019, December). n magazine, Norwegian Airlines, pp. 70-80.
Of course, “saving the world” is a complicated endeavor, but a worthy one. To better understand the priorities in addressing critical global challenges, the United Nations has developed a number of studies. Quoting from a book chapter I co-authored: Problematic human impact on natural systems has been examined by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch [Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production: Priority Products and Materials]. This group works to define metrics to better understand the current global resource imbalance between consumption and production and its potential cost to environmental stability.
Three dangers are specifically called out as primary factors to consider: Global Warming Potential, Land Use Competition, and Human Toxicity. Within these factors, ten categories of resource use are defined: plastics, coal, natural gas, crude oil, biomass, animal products, crops, iron and steel, other metals, and minerals. While each of the three factors has its own dominant problem category, a combined value reflects how these factors affect the environment. To help support decision-making, a weight is chosen for each category based on its overall estimated environmental impact, resulting in one general environmental footprint, expressed as an Environmentally-weighted Material Consumption indicator.
Environmental damage indicators as reported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch.
Our environmental footprint, caused by material consumption expressed by this indicator, is led by Animal Products (34.5%), Crops (18.6%), and Coal (14.8%). Animal Products stand out as the primary global environmental problem, larger than Crops and Coal combined, because of the massive amounts of resources that are consumed in producing the 294.7 million metric tons of meat from (roughly) 58 billion land and aquatic animals that are killed each year for food. This consumes a large portion of the global water and food supply as well.
Animal products are, by far, the greatest environmental problem and I encourage everyone to “put your money where your mouth is” and accept the shared responsibility for this dominant part of the climate crisis. Please always choose plant-based foods.
Responsible Consumption and Production (Goal 12) is at the center of impacting several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Typically, the destruction of the complete environment is not discussed in the popular press. More commonly, air pollution is mentioned, expressed as CO2e (equivalent amounts of GHGs to CO2 with respect to global warming potential). If we focus on just the destruction of the atmosphere, air pollution is dominated by burning coal, oil, and gas for the primary purpose of heating and cooling buildings, and generating hot water in buildings (commercial and residential, equally). In this subsection of the environment, Animal Products is the second largest cause of destruction and Buildings are the biggest culprit.
This brings us to the need for Sustainable Cities and Communities (Goal 11). This has been the focus of my work for the past decade (since 2010). I was inspired by a picture I saw of the first net-zero public building in Denmark called the Green Lighthouse; a student and faculty center at the University of Copenhagen. It showed the complex activities and interacting subsystems that need to be considered to make sustainable buildings.
Green Lighthouse diagram of low-energy techniques, such as natural ventilation, heating, and cooling, together with depiction of occupants and environmental conditions. (Christensen og Co. Arkitekter A/S, Green Lighthouse, University of Copenhagen, 2009).
Since that time, we have developed many solutions and technologies to address the building efficiency problem. Over the past 10 years, I have had the privilege to work with a great team of researchers, software developers, architects, and engineers to develop a number of software systems, prototypes, and concepts that can help us to transform the built environment from the problematic polluter it is today, to the climate cure it can become.
And now, I’m excited to start taking this strong body of research into action, working with the broader global community, with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as our North Star.
– Azam Khan
(02/02/2020)
