IT鈥橲 A grim way to learn a lesson, but in a sense we have to relearn urban
architecture after the horrors of 11 September. 快猫短视频 recently
published a thought-provoking article that left me wondering whether the
government was now considering any new regulations on high-rise buildings
(22 September, p 6).
In particular, I wondered whether it would advise the building
industry to install load sensors to warn of any impending structural failure. I
put my questions to the parliamentary secretary for the building industry, Alan
Whitehead.
He replied that while load sensors are a help in experimental studies of
building design, they are unlikely to be useful in predicting the impending
collapse of a completed building. When a building鈥檚 stability is being assessed,
you need far more information than just how the load is distributed in the
relevant supports. Take the twin towers of the World Trade Center: despite the
scale of the initial damage and the fire, the gravity loading on the
load-carrying core and structural fa莽ade probably changed little at
basement and ground-floor level, at least not until the onset of the collapse,
he said.
Whitehead went on to agree that there are lessons to be learned from those
tragic events. His department is liaising closely with various working groups to
evaluate the performance of the twin towers. He hopes to have recommendations on
both building design and the procedures for any rescue operations, should they
ever be required. He was also concerned to reassure me that in the wake of the
disaster, his department wants to improve the safety of buildings in every way
possible.
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Clearly, building safety has moved up the political agenda.
BACK in 1989 I met the great Brazilian ecologist Jos茅 Lutzenberger. He
reckoned then that a climate 鈥渇lip鈥� could result from the destruction of the
Amazonian rainforest, which would trigger disastrous changes in rainfall and in
the winds meeting the high Andes. 鈥淓urope would become like the coast of
Labrador,鈥� he growled.
Having read an article on the implications of such a sudden climate change
(快猫短视频 21 July, p 4),
I asked Michael Meacher, Britain鈥檚
environment minister, for his view on such a possibility. He replied that he
takes the idea most seriously.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said Meacher,
acknowledges that rapid change has happened in the past. And human activity
could make it happen again鈥攚ith no chance of reversal. So, because we
understand so little about such flips, the government supports research at the
Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Bracknell, Berkshire.
Researchers there work closely with their international counterparts to identify
the kinds of human interference that are riskiest for the climate.
Modelling at Hadley suggests that a flip originating in Amazonia is a
possibility unless we all reduce emissions, said Meacher. The recent
intergovernmental meeting in Bonn was an important step in setting targets to
achieve that, he added.
There is now a lot of pressure to reduce emissions as quickly as possible,
spurred on by our growing knowledge of rapid climate change, and the strong
belief that human actions are causing it. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a point that I am sure
environmental groups will be keen to make to those governments that wish to
delay action further on emissions reductions,鈥� asserts Meacher.
I sincerely hope the dreadful events of 11 September do not dwarf the work of
the IPCC.