Climate change and adaptive restoration explored in ‘Anticipating Future Environments’

How do climate change and its symptoms — drought, wildfire, flooding, extreme weather — affect the daily work of scientists involved with ecological restoration?

, a research scientist with the 91���� Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, looks for answers to this in a new book published in July by 91���� Press. “” tells of past and present salmon habitat restoration science in the Columbia Basin.

“Ecological restoration is often premised on the idea of returning a region to an earlier, healthier state,” Hirsch writes. “Yet the effects of climate change undercut that premise and challenge the ways scientists can work, destabilizing the idea of ‘normalcy’ and revealing the politics that shape what scientists can do. How can the practice of ecological restoration shift to anticipate an increasingly dynamic future? And how does a scientific field itself adapt to climate change?”

David Montgomery, 91���� professor of Earth and space sciences and author of several books, praised the new work: “In this hard look at how to restore an ecosystem that is changing our from under you, Hirsch reinforces the message that good science is not enough.”

91���� Notebook asked Hirsch a few questions about the book and its topic.

How did the book come about?

Shana Lee Hirsch: I was researching water management in the Columbia River Basin and I was really struck by the complex and overwhelming issues that people are facing in terms of, not only managing water, but in sustaining livelihoods, and all of the life that depends on the river. When climate change is piled on top of that, the issues are magnified.

But what really stood out to me was the way that people didn’t give up — they just kept on working through all of these complexities, restoring the river and finding creative ways to adapt. I wanted to understand what people, and particularly restoration scientists and practitioners were doing differently in light of climate change. How were they adapting their science, and their work, to deal with a climate-changed river system?

Who is the book’s intended audience?

S.L.H: It is an academic book, but tried to write it in a way that is accessible to a broader audience of people who are generally interested in environmental management or restoration of salmon habitat, especially in the Pacific Northwest.

What do you hope readers take away from the book?

S.L.H: I hope that readers will be inspired by what the restorationist community is doing to ensure that salmon continue to survive in the Columbia River Basin. Despite all of the devastation that salmon populations have suffered from development, and now climate change, the salmon and the people are not giving up. There is simply too much to lose.

Climate change should not overwhelm and stifle us to inaction, it should spur us to action and hope. The restorationists in this book can serve as an inspiration in this regard.

For more information, contact Hirsch at slhirsch@uw.edu or visit her personal .

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In other 91���� book news:

Stay the wrecking ball: ‘Building Reuse’ out in paperback

91���� associate professor of architecture argues for the environmental benefits of reusing buildings instead of tearing them down in her 2018 book “.” 91���� Press published a paperback edition of the book in August.

Tearing down buildings and “throwing away the energy and materials embodied in them” is contrary to the values of sustainable builders and environmental stewards, Merlino told 91���� News in 2018. “I’m not arguing that all buildings are worthy of preservation and reuse, but I think a change in discourse is necessary.”

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Anu Taranath’s ‘Beyond Guilt Trips’ a Washington State Book Award finalist

The Washington Center for the Book has named “” by a finalist for a 2020 Washington Book Award in the general nonfiction category. Taranath is a principal lecturer in the departments of English and the Comparative History of Ideas.

“Many of us want to connect with people unlike us, and we know that’s a good thing — it’s good for our democracy, good for our souls, good for our communities,” Taranath told 91���� News in 2019. “But we’re also not sure how to do so, because of the persistent inequities in race, economics and global positioning. And having good intentions and knowing how to connect are two different things.”

The book also was on Oprah Magazine’s and the Fodor’s Travel list of books to inspire travel, and received an from the booksellers’ publication Foreword Reviews.

The Washington Book Awards were announced on Aug. 21, and the winners will be named on Sept. 25.

An architect argues to stay the wrecking ball and reuse older buildings, a historian recalls Martin Luther King Jr.’s timeless economic message, a master storyteller brings a new set of tales, an engineer conjures a children’s book with a robot’s-eye view of the deep ocean …

But hark! — yet more. Personal essays on nature spanning a biologist’s career, a best-selling author’s take on America’s unprecedented president, and a thoughtful book about books themselves, their past and their unwritten future. Plus jazz and classical recordings from faculty in the 91���� School of Music.

As the year comes to a close and festivities abound, some 91���� faculty creations can make great gifts for the thinking Dawg on your giving list. Here’s a quick look at some gift-worthy books and music created by 91���� talents in the last year or so.

Michael Honey, “To the Promised Land: Martin Luther King and the Fight for Economic Justice.”

Fifty years have passed since King’s 1968 assassination. In a new book, Honey, a 91���� Tacoma historian, notes that economic justice and labor rights were always part of King’s progressive message. “He said in Memphis, ‘It’s a crime in a rich nation for people to receive starvation wages,’” Honey says. “That remains a basic issue right now across the country, where it seems like the economy is doing really well but there are millions of people in poverty.” Published by .

Dana Manalang, “.”

After years working on a cabled observatory that monitors the Pacific Northwest seafloor and water above, Manalang, an engineer with the 91����’s Applied Physics Laboratory, decided to share the wonder of the deep sea with younger audiences. The result is this new children’s book published by Virginia-based , which combines images of the deep ocean captured during 91���� School of Oceanography research cruises with rhyming couplets and a cartoon robot illustrated by 91���� designer .

Charles Johnson, “.”

A prolific author and 91���� professor emeritus of English, Johnson spins a dozen yarns in this new story collection, from realism to light science fiction and beyond, laced gently with humor and philosophy. Calling him a “modern master,” Kirkus Reviews said his stories “can be as morally instructive as fables, as fancifully ingenious as Twilight Zone scripts, and as elegantly inscrutable as Zen riddles.” Asked how he knows when a story is done, Johnson said: “When I can’t add another line (or word) to it without disturbing the delicate balance of music and meaning, sound and sense that comes from relentless revisions.” Published by

Kathryn Rogers Merlino, “Building Reuse: Sustainability, Preservation, and the Value of Design”

Tearing down buildings and discarding the energy and materials embodied in them is contrary to the values of sustainability, writes Merlino, an associate professor of architecture in the 91���� College of Built Environments. We avidly recycle and compost, but have no cultural ethic about reusing our largest manufactured goods — our buildings. “We quickly demolish buildings in the name of new, ‘green’ structures, rather than looking for the possibilities of how we can work with what exists,” Merlino says. To me there is an inherent conflict in there, and I think we can do better.” Published by .

David Shields, “No One Hates Trump More Than Trump: An Intervention.”

In his latest release, Shields, a 91���� professor of English and New York Times best-selling author, deconstructs the mind of the current president of the United States. The book, is “at once a psychological investigation of Trump, a philosophical meditation on the relationship between language and power,” publisher’s notes say, “and above all a dagger into the rhetoric of American political discourse — a dissection of the politesse that gave rise to and sustains Trump.” He calls it “a manual for beating bullies.” Published by .

Kenneth Pyle: “”

After the United States ended World War II by dropping atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it then conducted “the most intrusive international reconstruction of another nation in modern history,” writes Pyle, a 91���� professor emeritus of international studies. Only now, amid geopolitical changes of the 21st century, is Japan pulling free from American dominance and constraints placed on it after the war. The book, distilling a lifetime of research, examines how Japan, with its conservative heritage, responded to the imposition of a new liberal order and tracks the now-changing relationship between the two nations. Published by .

Amaranth Borsuk, “ ”

Borsuk, a 91���� Bothell assistant professor as well as a poet and book artist, explores the book, its past and possible futures in this compact volume. “Rather than bemoaning the death of books or creating a dichotomy between print and digital media,” she writes, “this guide points to continuities, positioning the book as a changing technology and highlighting the way artists in the 20th and 21st centuries have pushed us to rethink and redefine the term.” Published by

Jim Kenagy, “”

Kenagy, a professor emeritus of biology, presents a collection of 13 nature essays set in time across his life, from freshman field trips through his  dissertation and career at a major university. “These stories are not the scientific reports of a research professor, nor are they an attempt at popular science,” state publisher’s notes. “These are personal essays that spring forth from observation and discovery of what nature has to show anyone who is willing to pay attention.” Published by .

Pimone Triplett, “”

In her new book of poems, Triplett, a 91���� associate professor of English and creative writing, says she explores “the thinning lines between responsibility and complicity, the tangled ‘supply chain’ that unnervingly connects the domestic to the political, personal memory to social practice, and our age-old familial discords to our new place in the anthropocentric world. Published by .

Multiple authors, “”

This reference book was first published in 1973 and became an instant classic for its innovative style and comprehensive illustrations. Now, botanists at the 91���� Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture have created this updated second edition, which includes the reclassification or renaming of about 40 percent of the taxa covered by the first edition. Published by .

And to accompany your reading, here are some recent recordings from faculty in the 91���� School of Music:

Cuong Vu 4-Tet, “”

The latest CD by Vu, trumpeter and 91���� Jazz Studies professor and chair — created with his “4-tet” — is landing on critics’ best-of lists for 2018. Guitarist Bill Frisell, drummer Ted Poor, bassist Luke Bergman and Vu all contribute new music on this follow-up to the group’s 2017 album. A London Jazz News critic called the results “uniformly excellent.” Released by RareNoise Records.

Craig Sheppard, “” and “”

Sheppard, 91���� professor of music, released two CDs this year, documenting live performances at Meany Hall. For one, he presents the revised score of Bach’s master work, left incomplete upon the composer’s death. The other is a deluxe collection of Brahms’s four sets of lyrical piano miniatures,
Opus 116 through 119. Released by Romeo Records.

Michael Partington, “”

An artist in residence at the 91���� School of Music, Partington returns to the 19^th century repertoire that formed the basis of his early musical development in this collection, performed on a mid-1800s French Romantic guitar. Released by Rosewood Guitar.

In her new book, , 91���� associate professor of architecture, argues for the environmental benefit of reusing buildings rather than tearing them down and building anew.

“I was trained as both an architect and architectural historian,” Merlino says, “and have always been drawn to older buildings and the layered narrative of history they embody.”

Her book, “” was published this year by 91���� Press. Merlino discussed the book, and the topic of building reuse, with 91���� News.

What are the central ideas of the book?

It draws from three main concepts, she said. “First, I believe most of us are attracted to older buildings. This is a major driver of why we travel — to learn about cultures. Older buildings can teach us so much about the past. I think the patina of age and the combination of styles and textures in older buildings intrigues all of us.”

The second and perhaps the most important idea is sustainability. Here in the environmentally progressive Pacific Northwest, Merlino said, “We are so good at recycling and composting on a daily basis, but it’s surprising that we have no cultural ethic about reusing our largest manufactured goods — our buildings. We quickly demolish buildings in the name of new, ‘green’ structures, rather than looking for the possibilities of how we can work with what exists. To me there is an inherent conflict in there, and I think we can do better.”

Tearing down buildings and “throwing away the energy and materials embodied in them” is contrary to our values as sustainable builders and environmental stewards of our community, she said. Sustainability is particularly relevant “in a city that has been leading development nationally for the past several years.”

The third idea is that architects have the opportunity to use their knowledge to change the culture around building design “and embrace adaptive reuse as much as we embrace designing new structures.

“I’m not arguing that all buildings are worthy of preservation and reuse, but I think a change in discourse is necessary. Currently we have one way buildings can be saved from the wrecking ball: through historic preservation designation. While this is necessary and applicable for many buildings, it’s a challenging process, and it doesn’t apply to the majority of our building stock — such as the , everyday buildings that have plenty of good use left in them.”

If a building is not deemed historic, she said, “that can be used as an argument for demolition. Failed historic designations are used to justify demolition all the time. So I think we need to fundamentally shift our perspective on what constitutes ‘significance’ in our buildings.  I think all of these things need to be reevaluated if we are going to have truly sustainable buildings.”

What are the environmental – and cost – benefits to building reuse?

“Every building needs to be approached individually. Generally the big picture tells us that the construction and operation of buildings constitutes more than 40 percent of our total energy consumption, results in half our carbon emissions, and consumes 3 billion tons of newly extracted raw materials annually in our country. All of those numbers need to be reduced.”

Merlino said that though “green” new buildings can be more operationally energy-efficient than older ones, retrofitting an existing building is nearly always more sustainable over time.

“Studies have shown that if a building is demolished and replaced with an energy-efficient, or ‘green’ building of the same size, it will take in between 30 and 80 years to recoup that energy and carbon lost in the demolition and rebuilding of the new one. In other words, when new buildings replace older ones, they start with an energy deficit that takes decades to catch up to, no matter how ‘green’ they are.”

According to a federal study, you write, commercial buildings constructed in the United States before 1920 “perform at the same level as buildings from 2003.” In what ways?

Merlino said the study examined energy use by commercial buildings for each decade of the 20^th century and found that such buildings consumed more energy every decade until peaking in the 1990s as more than twice the amount found in the 1920s.

“At the turn of the millennia, there is a sharp reduction in consumption, which was a result of stricter energy codes and new building technology that emerged from the knowledge we needed to build more efficient buildings.”

She said that though some older buildings are seen as energy-inefficient due to low insulation and single-pane glass, many are in fact just as efficient overall as newer ones, because of their natural light and ventilation without mechanical systems that require energy.

“These are things we’re using again today, and are great characteristics to reuse in older buildings. In fact, we can now make them better. One of the challenges now is to look at some of our late mid-century buildings and learn how to make them operate at the levels we expect in our new buildings — and I think we can do this.”

Building reuse “had not always been at the top of the green movement’s agenda,” you write, though this is slowly changing. Why do you think this has been the case?

“I think there are several reasons for this. Sustainable design has always been forward-thinking and innovative by nature. And energy-efficient structures aren’t the majority of our existing building — so creating new ones made sense.

“Additionally, the generation of architects practicing today were primarily trained on the tenets of modernism, and this did not promote using buildings from that past as part of the architectural toolbox. Individualism, uniqueness and modern, clean lines drove design ideals as did the idea that an architect is the sole author of a building.

“Much of this is shifting, as things naturally do, but some of this sentiment still lingers in architectural training and practice. Plus, it’s hard, messy and complicated to work on existing buildings! You can’t just draw a new one on paper or your screen; you have to get to know the condition and form of the existing structure and work in tandem with what’s there.”

What are a few examples of successful building reuse in the Seattle area?

Merlino lauded creative work done in the city, some since she finished the manuscript of “Building Reuse.”

“One of my favorites is on Capitol Hill, which is a series of buildings that are stitched together with an inner shared courtyard and an outdoor or alley space for retail. The exposed structure of the section that was removed acts as a frame for entering the courtyard and exposes the raw materiality.

“In South Lake Union, the is a welcome sight among the new buildings that dominate the landscape, and in West Seattle transformed a unique 1970s church into a thriving elementary school. I also love discovering new restaurants, stores or coffee shops artfully inserted into old buildings in neighborhoods around the city. This has an important place in our city; few small independent businesses could afford leasing space in new construction, so older buildings can also contribute critical economic value to the city.

“The variety and texture of these places add great character to urban environments, and I doubt anyone would argue that we should tear every building down and build new because we need more square footage. Rather, I think we can be more strategic about our existing built fabric  and how a diverse building stock can contribute to smart growth, an interesting and diverse city, and be better for the environment, as well.”

As big box and other large retail stores close due to economic and lifestyle changes, might there be life yet for the buildings they leave behind?

“This is a complicated problem that is really prevalent right now. According to a study from 2016, there are over 10 billion square feet of retail space in the United States. This equals approximately 32.5 square feet of retail per person and the parking lots for each of these retail centers is even bigger.”

But, this, too is changing, she said, providing a great opportunity to find creative uses for such buildings.

“Each one should be considered in the context of what the community needs, modes of transportation, and whether it makes sense for that location.

“And that’s really the point: While each building is different, they are all repositories of materials and energy. Seen in this light, existing buildings should be regarded not as targets for demolition, but as sites ripe for reinvention.”

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For more information, contact Merlino at krm@uw.edu or 206-685-2296.