There’s no question, the environmental and social challenges of the 21st century are complex. While design alone may not solve all of these issues, Big Future Group believes that many of the adverse effects of climate change can be mitigated by sustainable design. As designers, we hope to address not only the immediate physical effects of climate change on communities, but also provide a framework of practices that advances quality of life issues with minimal impact to respective ecosystems over time, with specific attention to sustainable practices that minimize human impact on water, land, energy consumption, and biodiversity. These sustainable building methodologies can help people adapt, and sometimes even benefit from the effects of extreme environmental conditions that have become the new normal.

While sustainable design remains at the forefront of climate related dialogue, Big Future Group approaches the conversation from a different perspective: a multi-disciplinary collaboration of research and expertise. The founders—Sharon Davis, Julie Farris, Arun Rimal, and Eric Rothstein—met while working on the design and construction of an award-winning Women’s Opportunity Center in Kayonza, Rwanda. Together, they represent fields of architecture, engineering, hydrology and landscape architecture, to collectively explore multi-faceted solutions to food shortages, flood/drought, deforestation, unavailable access to energy, poor sanitation and health conditions, and an increasing carbon output.

Their work in Rwanda is a good example of the work they’ll be doing moving forward. The project, sponsored by Women for Women International, is made up of 20,000 sq ft of space covered by roofs that serve to shade and shelter women, and simultaneously harvest rainwater with durable cisterns. Rwandan women living in the area handcrafted a half-million bricks on site in order to build classrooms, which are made up of curved walls that create intimate communal spaces. The project also incorporates a landscape designed to nourish the community, a communal kitchen, lodging, and a marketplace to sell goods made there. While working together on this transformative project, the four decided that the Women’s Opportunity Center project was just the beginning, and that more work was to be done. In June of 2011, they founded Big Future Group.

Utilizing innovation-generating design methodologies, Big Future Group will develop achievable goals for specific community-based projects, and multi-disciplinary teams will research, design, and build sustainable infrastructure for areas in need. Big Future Group’s projects are focused on scalable, replicable and transferable measures, as these practices are essential to sustainability and viability.  The projects also aim to serve each community’s unique site conditions, values and communal needs, which can often lead to unexpected opportunities for innovation, essential for future progress.

To learn more about Big Future Group and their initiatives, visit www.bigfuturegroup.org.

On November 28th, 2011, the New York Times reported from Washington that with intensifying climate disasters and global economic turmoil as the backdrop, delegates from 194 nations will gather in Durban, South Africa, today, Monday 28th of November. The delegates will try to advance, if only incrementally, the world’s response to dangerous climate change. To those who have followed the negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change over their nearly 20-year history, the conflicts and controversies to be taken up in Durban are familiar: the differing obligations of industrialized and developing nations, the question of who will pay to help poor nations adapt, the urgency of protecting tropical forests, and the need to rapidly develop and deploy clean energy technology.

However, many of the sitting members of the United States Congress doubt the existence of human influence on the climate and ridicule international efforts to deal with it. The negotiating process itself is under fire from other quarters, including the poorest nations who believe their needs are being neglected in the fight among the major economic powers. But scientists warn that these arguments serve only to delay actions that must be taken to reduce climate-altering emissions and to improve vulnerable nations’ ability to respond to the changes they say are surely coming.

Rajendra K. Pachauri, director of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the global body of scientists and statisticians that provides the technical underpinning of the United Nations talks, noted that the group had recently released a detailed assessment of the increasing frequency of extreme climate events like droughts, floods and cyclones. They highlighted the necessity of moving quickly to take steps to reduce emissions and adapt to the inevitable damage. The Durban meeting is formally known as COP17, for the 17th conference of the parties to the United Nations convention on climate change.

Negotiators entered the United Nations climate talks at Copenhagen two years ago with grand ambitions but left empty-handed. Now they are lowering their expectations and hoping to keep the process alive through modest steps. At Durban, the negotiators will broach the politically-weighted question of whether to extend the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 agreement that requires most wealthy nations to trim their emissions while providing economic and technological assistance for developing countries to pursue a cleaner energy path. Also still on the agenda are the structure of, and the sources of financing for, a climate adaptation and technology fund that is supposed to reach $100 billion a year by 2020. One of the issues that is most contentious and least likely to be resolved involves the future of the Kyoto Protocol, which requires the major industrialized nations to meet targets on emissions reduction but imposes no mandates on developing countries, such as emerging economic powers and sources of global greenhouse gas emissions like China, India, Brazil and South Africa. The United States is not a party to the protocol, having refused to ratify it because of its asymmetrical obligations. But the European Union, the major developing countries, and most African and Pacific island nations would like to see the Kyoto process extended as a prelude to a binding international agreement after 2020 to reduce emissions so as to keep the average global temperature from ever rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, or about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, above its current level.

This summer we travelled 4,300 miles, taking three flights and one boat, from London to Disko Island in western Greenland. We were completing part of our field research into the recent changes in Arctic frozen ground (or ‘Permafrost’ - ground that remains frozen for two years or more). Permafrost currently accounts for around 25% of the Earth’s land surface and covers vast areas of the Arctic, Siberia, Canada, and some high mountain regions. It is an important store of greenhouse gases and estimates suggest that it may contain as much as 1,700 gigatonnes of carbon.

The upper layer of the frozen ground, the ‘active layer’, melts during the summer and releases the gases and sediments stored within it. Where permafrost has formed in front of glaciers, the meltwater streams can erode the thawed active layer, increasing the emission of the stored gases and sediments. If Arctic air temperatures rise as predicted, the amount of permafrost eroded by glacial meltwater is also likely to increase. Investigating the interactions between these Arctic glaciers and the surrounding permafrost is important for our understanding of future environmental changes.

The Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Tim Lane in action during the winter season, 2013. Photo: K Adamson

Our project forms part of an Arctic-wide research programme coordinated by EU-INTERACT. Through our work with INTERACT we have now completed two field seasons – one in the winter when the permafrost was fully frozen, and one in the summer, when the active layer had thawed. Our research aims to investigate the annual change in the depth of this active layer, and how it contributes to changes in the sediment within glacial meltwater streams.

Our field site on Disko Island provides the ideal location to study Arctic permafrost. It lies to the east of a small ice cap, and the meltwater streams are easy to access. During our fieldwork we stay at the research centre ‘Arctic Station’, which we share with other Arctic scientists investigating a whole range of topics from whales, to Arctic insects and everything in between! In order to study our site in depth we also spend a good deal of time camping close to the ice cap.

During the winter season, when temperatures reach a cool -20°C, we reach our field site by snowmobile over the ice cap and frozen meltwater streams. In the summer, temperatures reach around 7°C. At this time, the ice and snow have receded and the meltwater streams are in full flow. Getting to our site takes an 8-hour trek over bogs and meltwater streams. With 20 kg of equipment in our backpacks, this takes a lot of high energy snacks and scientific enthusiasm!

Arctic Station, Disko Island. Photo: T Lane

Once we arrive at our site we use a ‘ground penetrating radar’ (GPR) to scan the ground. It is almost like the geological equivalent of a medical scan. This machine transmits radar pulses into the ground. These pulses hit objects below the ground and are then reflected back to the machine. We can then use the returned signal to interpret the size, shape and location of subsurface material (such as soil, rock, ice, and water). Visiting the site over two seasons allows us to repeat our measurements and explore the changes in the permafrost. As well as the GPR measurements, we also collected water samples from the meltwater stream, using the slightly less high-tech method of waiting beside the stream and filling water bottles!

This fieldwork provides us with important insights into the changes occurring in these sensitive Arctic environments. It forms one of the many research projects being carried out each year which collectively will lead to a better understanding of climate change. It is these observations that allow scientists to make more informed predictions about the future changes in the Earth system.

Icebergs. Photo: T Lane

Read more from Kathryn and Tim on INTERACT.

The Media Watch on Climate Change (MWCC)  is a continuously updated knowledge repository on climate change and related environmental issues. A visual dashboard provides interactive means to access this repository, analyze stakeholder perceptions, and track emerging trends in online coverage. The system collects, filters, annotates and visualizes documents from a wide range of English, French and German sources – news media, social networking platforms, Web sites of Fortune 1000 companies and environmental organizations. The capturing of stakeholder communication, automatically and in real time, enables an unprecedented level of transparency.

Stakeholders must manage and apply relevant knowledge to address societal issues effectively, and to ensure that change is conceived and implemented on both regional andsociety-wide scales. Understanding the reach of the topics various parties discuss and the opinions they voice is a complex process that requires knowledge on how topics and stakeholders relate to each other.

Insights into this process was one of the topics at a recent World Bank communication conference in Washington D.C. Organized by the Connect4Climate team,  this event brought together a unique, multi-disciplinary group of scholars and multi-sector leaders who are experts incommunicating climate change to a broad audience. They invited me to present impact and communication success metrics developed for NOAA Climate.gov, and used visual tools of the MWCC to analyze Earth Day 2015 online coverage.

What is adaptation?

Climate change is affecting all nations across the globe. It might be a little late to avoid some irreversible changes in the climate, but we cannot ignore adaptation strategies. We all must learn to manage the risks that have arisen as a result of shifts in climate. But what does adaption really mean? Adaptation generally means investing in basic infrastructure and programs to protect us against the effects of climate change, but why, then, is adaptation different in different economies around the world?

While rich countries adapt by providing their nations with early warning and defense systems, poor countries are left to face much more challenging problems as they lack the resources and finances to cope. When faced with a drought the poor may suffer hunger from crop losses, but rich places, such as the state of California in the United States, develop extensive systems of reservoirs and water transfer channels to maintain flows to dry areas. When floods hit, floodwaters and communities in Vietnam's Mekong Delta have to depend on swimming lessons and life jackets for survival, while the UK is able to fund flood management and coastal erosion projects annually. Why should swimming be a sport in one country and a means of survival in another?

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In Kenya, farmers till their land to plant drought resistant crops. Photo credit: Elijah Mumo (Voices4Climate Competition)

UNICEF and the Ministry of Education in Mongu, Western Zambia are advocating for projects to construct floating schools that cannot be destroyed by floods to help children who are forced to drop-out of school until the waters subside because their families cannot afford to relocate to dry areas. However, such projects are still far from implementation due to lack of funds.

La situation du Conseil National Climat avec son Président du Comité de Gestion, également Président du Comité de Gestion de l'ANPN, Président de la commission d'attribution des bourses, Directeur général de l'Agence gabonaise d'études et d'observation spatiale, Conseiller spécial du Chef de l'Etat, Etienne MASSARD KABINDA MAKAGA interpelle le responsable de Brainforest que je suis du fait de notre engagement dans le processus FLEGT en tant que point focal société civile au Gabon et partie prenante du débat sur les changements climatiques en qualité de membre de ACCRA CAUCUS. 


Le Conseiller du Ministre de l'Economie, Jean Philippe NDONG BIYOGHO vient de remplacer le Conseiller économique du Premier Ministre, Nicolas ZEKPA au poste de Secrétaire permanant du Conseil National Climat. Considérant que ce sont des questions d'environnement, pourquoi le Ministère de l'Environnement ne joue pas ce rôle de Secrétaire permanent ? Où est passé la logique fermement défendu par Massard MAKAGA selon laquelle le Secrétariat permanent doit être assuré par un Représentant du Premier Ministre ? Alors que le Conseil est présidé par le Chef de l'Etat, pourquoi un Représentant du Premier Ministre n'assure pas la présidence du Comité de gestion pour autant que ça représente un cadre interministériel, et que le secrétariat permanant soit assuré par le Ministère en charge de l'Environnement ? 


S’il nous était demandé de revenir sur les conditions de création du Conseil Climat, nous dirions que l'idée part d'un comité interministériel changement climatique sous l'autorité du Premier Ministre présenté en son temps par le Ministre MABALA. Alors que le texte est en cours d'examen au Secrétariat Général du Gouvernement, le Conseiller du Président de la République nouvellement nommé fait irruption dans la salle et intimide les commissaires. Résultat, le Secrétariat Général du Gouvernement va surseoir à l'examen du texte. A la surprise générale, quelques mois plus tard, vers le mois d’avril 2010, le Ministre Mabala se verra présenter un décret à signer soumis par le Ministre Ministre Emile DOUMBA en charges des relations avec les Institutions Constitutionnelles. 


La question qui me brule les lèvres et celles des des observateurs de la question du climat au Gabon est la suivante : A-t-il fallu qu'un ancien Directeur général de l'environnement soit nommé à la Présidence de la République pour que cette Institution assume les questions de climat ? D'où sort soudainement l'expertise de Monsieur Massard en matière de climat alors qu'il n'est en contact de ces questions que lorsque l’ancien Vice Premier
Ministre, chargé de l’Environnement Madame Georgette KOKO le nomme Point Focal Climat ? Où en est-il avec sa spécialité de chercheur en biochimie?