Educating ecological architecture

"Sustainability," being the buzzword of the 21st century, is particularly challenging to the current generation, now in their early teens, which grew up with a childhood of lackadaisical use of fossil energy. This generation, which will soon be leading the world, has been inappropriately labeled the "generation me" and is expected to prove its successful transitioning into "generation p[ostfossil]." If the young emerging architectural professionals choose, they can be the mission group in helping reduce the overall fossil footprint that buildings contribute to the world by 40 percent. The young professionals, however, must be proactive because developers and contractors increasingly target low or no emission structures. While their energy performance is undoubted, their architectural performance is questionable. An architecture student at the University of British Columbia recently and most appropriately addressed this dilemma in a much unplugged way, "..you guys screwed up everything and we are supposed to fix it..." This paper investigates two major missions: first, and most important, how to get the upcoming architectural generation p(ostfossil) excited about the topic of bioclimatic design, and second, where to begin in the future to create a sensitive and intuitive understanding for both the poetics and pragmatics of eco- and archi- friendly architectural design.