In my last entry I erroneously said all the buildings were in Dubai. This is incorrect. the pic of the two towers together are in Bahrain.

Doubling of Current Building Stock in 40 Years

A friend from my car club just came back from Dubai. Can you say "enormous"?
Can you say "unsustainable"?


According to the latest editorial in this month's issue of Canadian Architect it was stated:
"An equal number of buildings will be constructed over the next 40 years worldwide as there have been throughout the course of humanity."

If we combine the following facts regarding the pathetic rate of truly sustainable architectural projects being built or proposed today, our pending encounter with reaching peak oil production in the next couple years, that climate change is already evident, and that natural resources are being extracted at a mind-numbing pace, not only will our unrenewable energy resources be almost completly depleted by the end of that 40 year period, but there will be little "natural world" left to appreciate from your condo window. The planet will begin to resemble the death star from Star Wars or, save for the shape, one of the Borg Cubes from Star Trek.

This may be somewhat overstated, but the reality is not far from this nightmare scenario. There is absolutely no evidence that any of this activity is being abated. In fact, it is accelerating, with China, India and a multitude of developing countries clamouring to become more North American every second of the day.

Why am I confident this will be the shape of the futre, because there is no mention of the pending catastrophe in lead-up to the US election, and if the US doesn't take a stand, the rest of the world won't either... and why should they? Where is the leadership as the (for now) richest and most powerful country on the planet?

Instead we will all go, eyes-wide-open, into the environmental abyss resulting from the deadly cocktail of pure selfishness and intentional blindness.