Joe Giddings is an architect and activist in the United Kingdom and the campaign coordinator at Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN), a role that introduced him to Treehugger readers earlier. With all the dire and pessimistic stories that have been published since the United Nation’s recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, he remains cautiously optimistic.

Giddings wrote an article for the Architects Journal titled “Make mine a plant-based building please.” He taps into the current zeitgeist with food and clothing:

“Plant-based options proliferate in supermarkets. The vegan sausage roll has been a sensation for Greggs [a UK chain]. Meat-free Mondays and Veganuary tempt the uninitiated into temporary abstinence. When it comes to culinary preferences and, increasingly, sartorial too, there is widespread understanding that ‘plant-based’ tends to mean better for the environment.

The science is broadly similar for architectural decisions; plant-based products and materials usually have lower associated carbon emissions and sequester carbon too, meaning they can have a positive impact on our climate. However, the concept of a ‘plant-based building’ is yet to become mainstream.”

Here on the appropriately named Treehugger, we have been espousing plant-based building for years, going back almost a decade to when we tried to rewrite Michael Pollan’s book “Food Rules into Building Rules,” mostly to avoid the chemicals in foam insulation; these were the days before we worried about embodied carbon, the emissions released when making things rather than operating them. We have since explained why our building materials should be almost edible, noting that “Cork, straw and mushrooms can keep you warm and be a healthy, high-fiber part of a balanced building diet.” I have written that high fiber diets are good for buildings, too. These were all written somewhat tongue-in-cheek before the climate crisis became so dire and immediate.

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