FutureAir

Author: Simone Rothman

Discussing the Climate Crisis

September 2015

In honor of Climate Week NYC and our commitment to taking action, our founder Simone, will be giving a Climate Reality talk followed by a lively conversation with architect and wind farm entrepreneur, Matthew Baird about how we can all take action.

Following intense training with Al Gore this past spring, Simone became a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps.  With this comes access to the Climate Reality Project library of incredibly compelling data, moving images and a commitment to spread the word about the seriousness of climate change.

It’s a hot topic, join us. Send us an email or sign up here.

Monday, September 21, 2015 – 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM ET

Civic Hall
156 5th Avenue
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10010

For more on climate change, take a look at the Climate Reality The Business of Climate Solutions webinar. Simone participated as a panelist in the August 27 discussion, which covered how businesses are going green and its affect on their bottom line.

Looking Up: The Flatiron Building

August 2015

Awash with iconic, architectural buildings that reveal the history of this urban metropolis, New York City is full of surprises. Walking down the bustling city streets, dodging the impossible crowds, one doesn’t often take the time to look up. But when you do, you would often notice the picturesque facades blemished by unattractive and environmentally destructive air conditioning units protruding from historic windows all over the city.

Take the Flatiron building, for instance. Designed by Chicago’s Daniel Burnham, the Flatiron building is one of the world’s most iconic skyscrapers and is quintessential New York City. Upon its completion in 1902, the curiously shaped building was one of the tallest buildings in New York City and was designated a New York City landmark in 1966.

Coupling Renaissance Revival design with Beaux Arts style, the building’s triangular plan was developed to fit the acute angle created by the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue at 23rd Street. Shaped like a perfect right triangle, it measures only six feet across at its narrow end.

Today, this architectural giant’s windows are home to myriad of unsightly window air conditioning units that consume unnecessary amounts of energy and drip water on passers-by. We must do better.

_flatiron-and-sky1000

In an effort to celebrate emblematic architecture and highlight the problem we are working to solve, we will publish a series on NYC architectural greats and their current status. Be sure to check back soon.

Sources: Wikipedia, ArchDaily, History.com

Photo: José Miguel Hernández Hernández

Knotty Objects

August 2015

The Media Lab at MIT has been said to “defy convention, reject norms and adore the impossible.”* Knotty Objects, the first MIT Media Lab Summit devoted to design, did not disappoint.

The hosts for the two-day summit in Cambridge were:

  • Joi Ito, Director, MIT Media Lab
  • Paola Antonelli, Sr Curator Architecture & Design, MoMA
  • Neri Oxman, Designer & Architect, MIT Media Lab
  • Kevin Slavin, Entrepreneur, Artist & Digital Media Pioneer

Beginning with an evening award ceremony and an informal dinner at ICA – Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art – the vibe in the spectacular Diller Scofidio building was the perfect mix of design, technology and science smarts.

MIT Knotty O on stage_8036

The talks were held on the 6th floor at 75 Amherst in the MIT Media Lab building – an electrifying place throughout. The topics revolved around the complexity of four objects – brick, bitcoin, steak, phone – the need for audacious vision, and the importance of critical design thinking to imagine new futures vs. designing to solve human needs. In short, “design constrained to problem solving is design oversimplified”.

I left Cambridge with a fresh set of ideas to reflect on, connections to cool people and makers who I have already reconnected with, and a further calling to continue to challenge the limits of design.

What will also stay with me are these profound thoughts from a sign at the entry penned by Media Lab Founder, Nicholas Negroponte,* “how uncommon common sense is, that the medium is not the message and the need to think about the thinking.”

Power to the People

July 2015

Our latest editorial obsession is a recent New Yorker article Power to the People: Why the rise of green energy makes utility companies nervous.

Written by Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, the article astutely describes the state of green energy, and the challenge of getting utility companies to adapt and support the switch to renewable energy sources.

The article profiles various Vermont-based, working-class families who have given their homes energy makeovers, with both fiscally lucrative and environmentally beneficial outcomes. As McKibben describes it, “the numbers reveal a sudden new truth—that innovative, energy-saving and energy-producing technology is now cheap enough for everyday use.”

McKibben profiles Green Mountain Power in Vermont, a standout utility in an otherwise archaic and, as he describes it, sleepy business sector. And in contrast, other less solar-supportive utility companies across the United States, and the rationale for their fear of disruptive technologies.

At the core of his argument is this: “The energy revolution, instead of happening piecemeal, over decades, could take place fast enough to actually help an overheating planet. But all of this would require the utilities—the interface between people and power—to play a crucial role, or, at least, to get out of the way.”

Our founder, Simone, recently transitioned her Gramercy Park flat to 100% renewable energy, with Ethical Electric. It’s a simple process, with big environmental rewards. Join the movement.

Read the full article here.

Climate Crisis = Reality

July 2015

A concern for the health of our planet is a part of our DNA, so attending Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership Training was critical to understanding the science behind climate change.

The Climate Reality Project’s mission is to catalyze a global solution to the climate crisis through education and encouraging urgent action.

The Road to Paris, the organization’s latest, more urgent campaign is aimed at uniting citizens, corporations, and organizations to demand a global agreement to limit greenhouse gases at this December’s United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Conference of the Parties meeting in Paris (COP21).

We’ve made a commitment to act, to be a catalyst for change. We were honored to participate in the Climate Reality Leadership Training this past May where we spent three empowering and life-changing days in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with world-class scientists, strategists, communicators, and technical specialists learning about the science of climate change and the direct results on communities around the world.

A few takeaways:

  • We were super impressed by Al Gore’s passion, energy and in depth knowledge of the scientific and historic data on climate change
  • We enjoyed meeting an incredibly diverse group of Climate Leaders of mentors, speakers and attendees. – From students, farmers and filmmakers to builders, museum directors and professors from all over the world each was eager to learn and make a difference by helping spread word of the urgent need to change our path of destruction
  • We were surprised by the progress made by the state of Iowa in growing jobs in manufacturing by creating renewable energy sources which now supply 30% of the state’s energy with mostly wind and some solar

For a general overview on the climate crisis check out Climate Reality’s Climate 101.

Get involved. Be a part of the solution.