Practice

CBAC: Subcommittee Initiatives (2022-2023)

ASLA 2022-2023 Biodiversity and Climate Action Committee Subcommittees and their initiatives:

Carbon Drawdown & Biodiversity Subcommittee:

Environmental Products and Resources: With product manufacturers and the ASLA Corporate Member Committee, develop research, case studies, and education on the benefits of low- and zero-emission product supply chains and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). Create resources to build member awareness of the carbon impact of materials. Research existing EPD databases and create a guide on how to navigate these resources for members. Support planning for a new LAM/ASLA product directory.

Drawdown and Biodiversity Resource Compilation: Hone in on practical, how-to webinars and educational resources for members on leveraging existing tools to calculate carbon for a range of project types – and also measure other climate action co-benefits such as biodiversity, water conservation, renewable energy production, resilience, etc. Research how architects, planners, developers, engineers are calculating emissions.

Zero Emission Guidelines (advisory, work may begin mid-year 2023): Leveraging the analysis of Honeycomb Strategies, which is auditing ASLA's greenhouse gas emissions, research and develop strategies on how small, mid-sized, and large landscape architecture firms / organizations can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their projects and operations by 20 percent by 2024 and eliminate emissions by 2040. How can landscape architecture firms / organizations achieve zero-emission growth?

Climate Agency and Community Resilience Subcommittee:

Local, Regional, and National Coalitions: Identify climate justice, biodiversity, adaptation, and other related organizations as potential strategic partners. What is the roadmap to achieve these alliances?

Community Engagement Guidelines: Develop engagement guidelines for landscape architects seeking to partner with community-based organizations to advance equitable, zero-emission climate action projects at local level.

Develop Equity Metrics: With guidance from the ASLA Racial Equity Plan, and in partnership with BlackLAN and ASLA equity-focused member networks, develop an equity measure / metric that firms / organizations can check and apply while achieving the six key goals of the action plan.

Climate Leadership and Communications Subcommittee:

Climate Action Network: Develop strategies and resources to advance knowledge sharing between ASLA Chapters to achieve the six key goals of the Climate Action Plan. Support Chapters’ efforts to organize regional knowledge sharing and build the capacity of the ASLA Climate Action Network. Organize and host quarterly Climate Action Network calls.

Climate Action Plan / Field Guide Outreach: Tailor existing slideshow templates and create speaker basecamp for presenting the Climate Action Plan/Field Guide to members, universities, and students to build internal coalition.

Best Practices: Develop best practice approaches for increasing knowledge sharing, research, and collaboration among ASLA Chapter Climate Action Committees and university faculty in landscape architecture (ASLA Climate Action Network), climate, and related science departments, and ASLA student representatives. Support academic coalitions through CELA and LAAB and help universities center climate action in their curriculum.

Research Brief Review: Review and advise on RFP that will be issued to academic members and non-members to create a new  series of research briefs, which will analyze global peer-reviewed scientific research on the benefits of landscape architecture- and nature-based strategies to reduce emissions and enhance capacity, biodiversity, and resilience.

ASLA Team Support: Propose story ideas and publications to expand coverage of landscape architecture in climate action conversations. Help shape and contribute to ASLA climate-related communications, media, and social media strategies, plans, and campaigns. Provide feedback on webpages, talking points, and other Climate Action-related communications produced by ASLA

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