It’s World Environment Day, But Which Environment?

In over 143 countries, today – June 5 – is recognized as World Environment Day.

This designation began in 1972 when the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution urging all governments and organizations in the United Nations system to reaffirm every year on this day their concern for the preservation and enhancement of the environment.

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how disastrous are the consequences of ecosystem loss can be. Shrinking the natural habitats of animals has created ideal conditions for pathogens such as coronaviruses to spread to humans, with horrendously devastating consequences that are still unfolding.

That is why the United Nations has suggested the focus this year’s focus should be on ecosystem restoration under the theme “Reimagine Recreate Restore.”

Ecosystem restoration on a global scale means repairing land areas greater than China or the USA to provide food, clean water, and jobs. It means planting billions of trees, bringing plants and animals back from the brink of extinction, and protecting our much-abused oceans.

These measures to recreate and restore the natural environment are vitally important because, as noted by the UN,  the next 10 years are our final chance to avert a climate catastrophe and to turn back the deadly tide of pollution and end species loss.

The Other Environment

Making peace with the natural environment will in time make for a better future for humanity. But there is another environment that has a more immediate impact on the wellbeing of billions of people in our increasingly urbanized world – that is the Built Environment.

The world where we live, work, and learn is the more immediate reality for most of us, and just as we must recognize and repair the damage we have inflicted on the natural environment, so too must we recognize that our cities, towns, and extended communities are also in need of repair.

We have not always made the best decisions of what we build, where we build, and what we build with.

The imperative to ‘Reimagine, Recreate, Restore’ the world’s natural environment is equally applicable in the environment we have built brick by brick over centuries of human activity. That imperative is at the core of calls to ‘Build Back Better’ as we emerge from this painful pandemic.

Building Back Better

But building back better is not simply to return to what we used to call ‘normal’ or even to achieve a ‘new normal. It means we have to build for a more sustainable future, one that is resilient and better able to withstand not only the impacts of our changing climate but also one that respects and protects the critical ecosystem boundaries of both the natural and the built environments.

This past year has been a time of trial, but it has allowed us to look closely at how we reshape a more equitable and safer future.  One of the harsh realities of the current pandemic is that the physical and social infrastructure of our cities must be more resilient, more inclusive, and better able to withstand the unexpected shocks of a world forever changed.

Resiliency, Recovery, and Renewal must become the signposts for the built environment. That is our new reality. We need our architects, engineers, designers, and developers to design more climate-resilient, affordable, and livable buildings, homes, and cities. Then we can build back better.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that by working together we can accomplish miracles, Millions of lives have been saved because we listened to our health experts and took the actions needed to overcome the many challenges this plague visited upon us. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that we can persevere and prosper in the face of adversity.

Why Do We Build With Concrete?

Why is building with concrete so important? It is not simply because concrete is stronger, more durable, and longer-lasting. It is more profound than that.

Cement and concrete are the most widely used building products in the world, and if we are to build a more resilient and lower carbon future, we must start with the materials that are the foundation of our economies and our societies.

The concrete and cement industries are already key players in creating a more carbon-neutral and climate-resilient future. They are at the forefront of research and innovation to lower the embodied carbon content of cement and concrete and have committed to reducing the CO2 footprint of their operations and products and to develop carbon-neutral concrete by 2050.

For many in these industries,  building for resiliency, durability, and safety is more than a business. It’s a mission.

So on this World Environment Day let us not forget that working together makes us stronger for the future. Let’s learn from our successes, not our failings. Let us Reimagine, Recreate, and Restore both our natural and built environments together.