A Case for Establishing a Nationally Based Program for Sustainable Energy and Water Use in the Built Environment

Abstract

For the past decade, politicians have applied different shades of green-wash to global environmental issues in order to help juggle their positions in the political spectrum. This has created the illusion that effective measures are being pursued in the public interest for both this and future generation(s). The reality is, however, that nearly of all these initiatives are input focused and the various States of the Environment reports confirm that, despite decades of endeavour and large financial investment, there is little return on investment and that the rate of environmental degradation, particularly of the global atmosphere, continues to increase. Despite fierce posturing from the global warming sceptics, it seems that finally, the long term data indices of global warming are being accepted seriously and politicians around the world are responding by investing public funds in the quest for the search for options. This paper contends that with global warming, humans will need to embrace uncertainty and manage change and that innovation and cooperation across all disciplines and the cooperation of the entire political and social spectrum will be required to solve the ecological disasters that have already begun to unfold and accelerate in frequency. It looks from a strategic viewpoint at how specialist education can catalyse change and play an important role in managing the change. The case study used in this analysis is the RISE Master of Science Course in Environmental Architecture. It explores the implications of linking to converging interests from other emerging course streams for Engineering and other Built Environment disciplines such as Planning, Project Management and Interior design as well as socio-economic disciplines and the integrative discipline of Systems Dynamics.