An Interview with Kalpana Sutaria

Kalpana Sutaria is an architect, an author and a project manager working for the City of Austin. She has worked on climate responsive buildings and has promoted sustainable guidelines in City’s buildings throughout her career. She has been a volunteer at the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, which is working to create a political will to transition away from polluting fuels. She believes that green buildings are crucial but to cool our environment, we need policies to lower carbon from all sectors of our economy. She has a master’s in architecture from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a licensed architect (AIA) in the State of Texas, LEED Accredited Professional (BD+C) and a Project Management Professional (PMP).

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

It was hard to come up with the title. My major issue was that as an architect I wanted to appeal to my colleagues in the design and building industry about impacts of climate change in our industry. But climate change is a difficult scientific subject that I was trying to understand and explain to my colleagues and advocates in a language that is easier for those who had limited educational background on climate science. Initially I used climate change in the title. That had a problem because I am not a climate scientist. I am quite pleased with the title now. It conveys a message that this book is an architect’s vision and understanding of global warming. My lessons in education and experiences in professional work and my volunteer work in environmental advocacy have helped me to come up with the main message that global warming is devastating us and we need to act to cool our environment.

How did it feel when you first saw your book cover? Or when you first held your book in your hands?

This is my first book, and it was a thrilling experience! My dream of reaching out to my colleagues and environmental advocates was closer to achieving.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

I was attending a conference of the United States Green Building Council. There was one session where the organizer had an exercise. It was about our deep feelings about what climate change can do to our lives and that of our children. I had been concerned about terrible consequences of climate disasters. In this workshop, we were to write about our feelings on climate change on a board which had pegs. All sentences started with, “Before I die…” .

My sentence was “Before I die, I want to write a book on climate change.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided that I am going fulfill my pledge and started writing.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I was a co-founder of a group called “Saheli,” which helped victims of family abuse of within Asian communities in the U.S., especially Indian. I was the first president of this group. We were a small volunteer group that helped many women and some men. Now this group has grown and obtained grants, and it is called Asian Families Support Services of Austin or AFSSA. This work was extremely satisfying for me when lives of the women whom we helped were transformed. I continue to stay in touch with this group and support it.

What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?

I have felt that my generation and that of my children’s generation have allowed the environment to degrade by continuing to burn dirty fossil fuels. We could have taken stronger action when it was beginning to happen during the energy crisis 1970s and when warnings were raised by climate scientists in the 1980s. The longer we continue the path of “business as usual,” harder it will be to address the impacts of global warming. The most meaningful part of publishing this book is to share lessons I have learned about our environment and inspire my colleagues in the building industry using lessons of past and innovations of modern technology in design and construction to lower emissions to combat global warming and build a livable world for all people.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

After reading the book, I want my readers to form a habit to examine their professional work as well as personal activities each time and think about their environmental impacts on people today and on future generations. We need to act now before it is too late to do so. I would love it they use my model as guide model in the last chapter delineating actions. I would be thrilled when my readers decide to take most important actions to reach out to lawmakers for enacting policies to lower emissions, remove carbon and help restore our environment.

What new writing projects are you currently working on? Or, other projects that are not writing?

I have some ideas about future books and projects, but they are not quite solidified.

How was working with Atmosphere Press? What would you tell other writers who want to publish?

The experience working with people of Atmosphere Press, including Alex, Nick, Rolando, Tammy, Dakota, Elana, Cassandra, Hayla, Evan, and Claire has been delightful. Alex Kale was my main contact throughout, and she has been kind, supportive, professional and responsive. It was a pleasure to work with Rolando Alves, who is creative and fun. Hayla and Claire have been kind and supportive during the promotion phase and I have enjoyed working with them. I would highly recommend Atmosphere Press to other writers.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.