Architecture 2030's plan is for all buildings to proudly announce how many emissions it required to build them, to operate them, and to eventually tear them down.
Like China has done in the past, the U.S is sacrificing public health for rapid economic development. But we should really be emulating the way China does things today.
In addition to knowing your exact route and even how many calories you've burned, you can now find out the environmental impact of every public transit trip you take--and how much better it is than if you had taken a car.
That the world's population is cramming into cities at a rapid pace has countless environmental benefits. A big one is that as people urbanize, we chop down fewer trees.
Stock prices, consumer spending, and carbon emissions have all rebounded now that the economy is back on track. Until we find a way to "decouple" growth from pollution, we'll be forced to choose between poverty and the planet.
The trend toward individual carbon offsets has slowed from the heady days of 2007. Things may be changing, however, and it's not just the economy getting people interested in offsets.
