Bill Caplan, Environmental Law Institute ELI Press, November 2021
"THWART CLIMATE CHANGE NOW: Reducing Embodied Carbon Brick by Brick" was selected by the critically acclaimed Environmental Law Institute's ELI Press to be published Fall 2021. Written for a broad spectrum of readers from architects and developers to policy makers and legislators, the book addresses how to tackle the built environment's "embodied" carbon emissions. Emitted upfront by manufacturing and construction, embodied emissions are often taken for granted or too perplexing to resolve. Unfortunately, they increase atmospheric carbon before our buildings and infrastructure are even used and cannot be ignored. Especially now. While we bank on future fossil fuel milestones in the 2030s through 2050s and beyond, "Thwart Climate Change Now" tackles the difficult subject of 'what to do until' we get there. With specific design and policy recommendations to slow the growth of "embodied" emissions in the near term, the book brings together the science of global warming, sustainable design and green policies in a language accessible to a diverse readership, followed by case study examples to support design, policy and legislative recommendations.
"Buildings Are for People" takes a critical look at architectural design in the context of Human Ecology (people, the built environment and the natural environment). It challenges the way we approach building design with an emphasis on both human interface and sustainability. "Buildings Are for People" encourages designs that are sensitive to people, program and habitat, providing a methodology for conceiving architectural designs that respond to such a matrix. It provides a new perspective that includes a dose of reality and a path forward — a prescriptive for creating more effective design.
The evocative photography in "Contrasts 21c", a 9 inch x 10 inch Coffee-Table Book with 18 inch wide 2-page spreads, transports the reader to distant locales in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to unveil the incredible contrasts between rural and city life still present in this 21st century. Addressing the cultural diversity of this region and its challenges, it draws attention to the conflicts between self-sufficiency and sustainability in an admixture of ancient tradition and present-day reality. Beautifully expressed in full color with descriptive text, Contrasts 21c is a photo essay about people and places. Expressing a sensitivity to the human condition and the built and natural environments, it brings to life an eye-opening pictorial about human adaptability in these lands of stunning beauty.
