Informal dispatches from COP 26

DAY 2 — A Member of the Carbon Generation Goes to Glasgow

By Thomas Vonier
FAIA RIBA
Immediate Past President, International Union of Architects
Former President, American Institute of Architects

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A thing here that amazes: the huge numbers of people who’ve turned out—25,000 by some estimates, and more seem to be arriving every day. That serves as a reminder: With so many of us on the planet, is it any wonder that we’ve disrupted our climate? Is it any wonder that our climate is disrupting us? And not only us—extreme weather and changing conditions are affecting nearly all forms of plant and animal life.

As one of the 7.7 billion humans on our planet—triple the number alive when I was born—this number defies description, boggles the mind, staggers the imagination. In a report on global population, CNN reported that it would take you more than 30 years simply to count to that number . . . if you could do it at all, and if you never stopped to eat, sleep, or do any of the other things we do.

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Tom is sending DesignIntelligence daily dispatches from COP 26 and offering his seasoned insights and observations along the way.