Are you kidding me?

I just attended the CEO Large Firm Roundtable (LFRT) conference of the AIA which was held last week in Vancouver, Canada. One of the speakers was Edward Mazria, an activist for the AIA’s Architecture 2030 program, and one of the most compelling and erudite speakers in our profession on the subject of climate change.

I am proud that TRO Jung|Brannen is one of 38 LFRT member firms to underwrite the Architecture 2030 program, and I left Ed’s lecture with renewed energy to rededicate our firm’s resources to the daunting sustainable design challenges that lie ahead. However, the moment I returned to my office I was confronted with a copy of the October, 2009 issue of Architect magazine. In it are the results of a recent survey of 960 design professionals on the subject of climate change. As a well-known gameshow host once cried “THE SURVEY SAYS…… 13% of design professionals think global warming is a hoax!”

Who are these people? Is our profession really so woefully misinformed that a significant percentage actually believe the political spin rather than the scientific evidence?

I hope the magazine was just kidding.