This section of the commentary does not describe specific details of “coded failures” in residential or public institution buildings, it is rather a section within the website, added to provide a background of information for a reader’s consideration. Climate change, or rather attempts to limit our carbon footprint, is at the heart of what happened to cause so many ill-conceived attempts at energy conservation to be written into building codes. However, our ‘localized’ concern for the problems of our building codes, fade to insignificant when viewed against the backdrop of a climate crisis. Climate change is a global problem, that requires a most aggressive global solution. It’s unlikely, that anything done to the design or retrofit of ‘modest homes’ (if such are actually built anymore) for working people and schools for children will do anything toward fixing the crises.
Where to begin on those factors of influence and decide just what is required to achieve a best understanding of the building failures is immediately problematic. Meaning, this bit is not required reading at all to facilitate a better understand of what building details have failed and why. In fact, one can readily offer a compelling argument, especially if presently involved in trying to fix a failing building, that it does not matter one whit, what influences were at work to cause the problem. Let’s just fix the problem. Yet others may be curious and would like to know what caused such flawed designs to be incorporated into our building codes in the first place. What were they thinking? Well of course we have no idea of what our code writers were thinking but may gain a reasonable understanding of the sorts of influences at work to guide their efforts. Code writers do not work in isolation but attempt to achieve broad consensus among stakeholders. For example, to incorporate a government agenda to reduce the heat loss from buildings to save energy, building codes were written to achieve this end. Such was “intended” to reduce the amount of fuel consumed to heat a building and so reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, such coded efforts to save energy resulted in many cases of water saturated building insulation, which does not insulate at all, but rather works to conduct heat to the outside of the building. In other words, this unintended outcome of wet insulation caused an increase in energy consumption, rather than the reduction planned. Buildings were sealed up so tightly to prevent heat escapement, that moisture laden fungus and carbon monoxide contaminated air was unable to escape. However, when involved in such “greater good” in attempts to save the planet, the welfare of inhabitants, or users of the buildings, such as children in schools and people in their homes, is missed entirely.
Climate change is the overwhelming issue of the day and has become the driving force behind many building code requirements. While it is true that what we are about is a commentary on past coded events, the climate crisis happening now, is not easily ignored. Therefore, related background information, as to why code writers became blinkered on the need to prevent climate change at all costs, rather than have a primary concern to provide long-lasting healthy affordable shelters for people and their possessions, is attempted. I will try not to ramble in attempt to illustrate those “factors of influence” which are pervasive and are at work to guide us along to participate in many “feel-good actions” with pretence of working to save the planet. Climate change is a global problem and must be handled globally with no exceptions, such as those exceptions presently allowed under the Paris Agreement for the so-called emerging nations. It has also become a very personal problem for some individuals, including children, with many becoming scared, anxious and depressed. Support groups are established, such as the “Climate Psychology Alliance” on Facebook, with posts such as:
“It’s really important and helpful to join with others and talk about our climate distress. Honoring and processing our feelings about global warming are part of what allows us to act with clarity and courage”.
Along with: “Children are bearing the emotional burden of climate change more courageously than adults…”.
These are emotive comments, quoted to illustrate the sort of conversation that is now an ongoing part of our reality. A reality, where many believe that the best way to influence behavior, is to scare the heck out people, as is attempted with those awful illustrations on cigarette packages, in the hope it will influence people to stop smoking. I am not sure just how well this works, but in the case of children and climate change, I believe we have gone too far. There’s a difference between educating children and alarming them so that they will become involved in demonstrations, which surely most adults realize are directed by parents and teachers. Teachers especially are aware that children most generally do not achieve the “formal operational stage of development” until they are about twelve years old. In other words, become capable of logical thinking with abstractions, that is of the possibilities beyond the here and now. One can appreciate the concerns of adults, but to then have 6 or 7-year-old children hold up signs to suggest they too are “aware” of what is going-on is foolish.
It is therefore appropriate, because of an apparent overwhelming concern most generally about climate change, as well as it being of major influence on coded requirements, to drift away from the normal focus of building code insights expected in this commentary and broaden our scope. In other words, to discuss the influences at work on the more general populous, which include scare tactics, misinformation, poorly understood science and inequalities to actions.
However, it is forcefully agreed that climate change is real and is happening to our planet according to both scientific and observed weather phenomena. People world-wide most generally, if not impacted at the present time by climate change events, will be in the future, unless we act globally to turn things around.