You can add mapmakers to the list of professionals who have to reshape their designs because of changing climate. A recent article on LiveScience.com notes that The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, one of the most authoritative atlases, has had to make significant revisions to some of their maps because of climate change and human construction. Most notably, the atlas includes drastic reductions in the sizes of some lakes and seas (like Lake Chad which shrunk 95% [!] since 1963), and alterations to coastlines and islands in the South Pacific. The pictures of these changes in the article are quite worrying.

While cartographers are forced to update their work because their vocation is contingent upon the Earth’s real features, Design Firms have a choice in how their projects may alter the planet. Meeting green certification standards, working with non-hazardous materials, choosing particular sites for construction, and regulating energy use all make a difference, but efforts to curb environmental impact are not without trade-offs in the levels of services, compensation, and, of course, risk. Schinnerer’s risk management services can help mitigate some of these risks. Our Green Buildings management advisory, a detailed study of wastewater claims, and our resources for environmental consultants can all help firms work toward green solutions.

 

• AGC’s Albuquerque Branch, where Gene Todaro will be speaking September 19 at a session in the Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid North, in Albuquerque, NM. An event sponsored by the Kinney Agency.

• AIA New York State’s 2007 Convention in the Grand Hyatt New York in New York City. Frank Musica will be there discussing Collaborative Design and Insurability on Friday October 5. The conference lasts from the October 4–6. More information can be found here.

• ACEC’s 2007 conference on the built environment at the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa in Maui, Hawaii from September 26–29. With educational sessions with topics on Business Management; Contracts and Risk Management; Project Management and Project Delivery; Sustainability and the Environment; Civil Infrastructure Markets; and Buildings, Industrial Processes, and Technology. Tom Porterfield will be in attendance. The conference website is linked here. 
  

• The ABA’s Forum on the Construction Industry fall meeting in Newport, RI on October 25. Joe Jones will be there moderating the first session, Successfully Navigating Your Way Through the Electronically-Managed Project.. The meeting outline is here.

Also, be sure to look for our regional seminars this fall.
 

• Frank Musica will lead a seminar on risks associated with green design in Kansas City on October 18 at the Kansas City Marriott Coutnry Club Plaza. 

• Dick Garber will direct a seminar on critical issues in construction contract administration at the AMA Executive Conference Center in New York, New York on November 1.