The 2010 Imperative is an initiative issued by Architecture 2030

Architecture 2030

Architecture 2030 is a U.S. based, non-traditional and flexible environmental advocacy group focused on protecting the global environment by using innovation and common sense to develop, and quickly implement, bold solutions to global warming. The organization was founded by Edward Mazria in 2003...

 that requires ecological literacy

Ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

, largely missing from the curriculum in the United States, to become a key element of design education by 2010, in order to combat global warming

Global warming

Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...

 and world resource depletion

Resource depletion

Resource depletion is an economic term referring to the exhaustion of raw materials within a region. Resources are commonly divided between renewable resources and non-renewable resources...

.

The initiative

The 2010 Imperative calls for the following:

• Beginning in 2007, educators should add to all design studio problems the following requirement:

"Solutions to design problems must engage the environment in a way that dramatically reduces or eliminates the need for fossil fuel

Fossil fuel

Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...

."

• By 2010, all academic design curricula shall achieve complete ecological literacy in design education, including the following areas of study:

design / studio

history / theory

materials / technology

structures / construction

professional practice / ethics

• By 2010, all design school campuses shall achieve a carbon-neutral footprint.

This may be accomplished by implementing innovative sustainable design strategies, generating on-site renewable power and/or purchasing a maximum of 20% renewable energy and/or certified renewable energy credits (REC's, Green tags).

See also

• Architecture 2030
  Architecture 2030
  Architecture 2030 is a U.S. based, non-traditional and flexible environmental advocacy group focused on protecting the global environment by using innovation and common sense to develop, and quickly implement, bold solutions to global warming. The organization was founded by Edward Mazria in 2003...
  
  
• The 2030 Challenge
• Avoiding dangerous climate change
  Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change
  The related terms "avoiding dangerous climate change" and "preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system" date to 1995 and earlier, in the Second Assesment Report of the International Panel on Climate Change and previous science it cites.In 2002, the United Nations...
  
  
• Sustainable architecture
  Sustainable architecture
  Sustainable architecture is a general term that describes environmentally conscious design techniques in the field of architecture. Sustainable architecture is framed by the larger discussion of sustainability and the pressing economic and political issues of our world...
  
  
• Green building
  Green building
  Green building refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition...
  
  
• Low-energy building
• Low-carbon economy
  Low-carbon economy
  A Low-Carbon Economy or Low-Fossil-Fuel Economy is an economy that has a minimal output of greenhouse gas emissions into the environment biosphere, but specifically refers to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide...
  
  

External links

• The 2010 Imperative