SPEND MORE, BUSH TELLS CHINA CONSUMERS

6 September 2007 (TODAY)

SYDNEY - United States President George W Bush yesterday urged China's
consumers to spend more to help close a yawning trade gap with the US, as
he prepared to meet his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao today.

While trade will likely top the agenda at the talks, the leaders are also
expected to include prickly issues such as exchange rates and reported
Chinese cyber-attacks on the Pentagon, reflecting a relationship Bush
termed "complex".

"We certainly hope that China changes from a saving society to a consuming
society," Mr Bush said, ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(Apec) forum.

"Right now, because of the lack of a (social) safety net, many Chinese
save for what we call a rainy day," Mr Bush said. "What we want is the
government to provide more of a safety net so they start buying more US
and Australian products."

Most American criticism of the surplus is focused on the value of China's
currency - said to be kept artificially low - but Mr Bush focused on
China's high savings rates ahead of his meeting with Mr Hu.

China's enormous trade surplus with the US is a regular bone of contention
in bilateral relations, with widespread American claims that jobs are
being lost to the massive Chinese exporting machine.

The gap with China, which has the lion's share of imports into the US,
expanded to a record US$21.2 billion ($32.3 billion) in June from US$20.02
billion in May, according to US official data. - AFP

Multidisciplinary Teams Tackle Climate Change with Innovative Plans for Healthy, Sustainable Communities

June 22, 2007 — By Royal Institute of British Architects - USA

LOS ANGELES, CA - At a symposium at the A + D Museum (Architecture Plus Design Museum) in Los Angeles on June 8 through 10, four winning teams were selected from among twelve finalists who presented proposals as part of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) - USA California chapter's competition, Building A Sustainable World: Life in the Balance. The competition, sponsored by Autodesk, Inc. attracted 65 registrations from 18 different countries, encompassing over 200 participants, either as individuals or in multi-disciplinary teams. It challenged participants to develop concepts for healthy, vibrant communities designed to address climate change and reverse, rather than add to, environmental damage.

Each entry tackled environmental and social challenges of enormous scope and offered engaging, inspiring solutions.

First Prize for $10,000.00 was awarded to the team from Fiji - Toby Kyle, Chris Cole and Kamineli Vuadreu for their project Sustainable Urban Housing in Fiji - "Vakabauta Village". This proposal addresses the displaced and low income Fijians with ways to uplift their local economy with affordable sustainable housing, and engaging ideas for the local people to create higher incomes for themselves whilst respecting and maintaining their cultural values and traditions.

Second Prize for $5,000.00 was awarded to the Australian Team from Gall and Medek - team DES of Brisbane, presented by Jim Gall and Tony Frye called "Boonah Two Development". This proposal addresses primary elements of off the grid communities including water catchment, food production, transportation, and relationship to each other and nature.

Third Prize for $2,500.00 was won by the United States design team of Wallace Roberts and Todd, LLC from Philadelphia, presented by Stephen Gibson called "Urban Kidney Project" (The Forgotten Bottom). The WRT team includes George B. Bryant, Stephen M. Gibson, Kyle Gradinger, John Keene, Adam Krom, Lauren W. Leatherbarrow, Jamie R. Ober, Anthony C. Okoye, Yogesh Saoji, KaMan E. Skinner, Devinder S. Soin, and Michael J. Tweed. This proposal addresses "The Forgotten Bottom" in Philadelphia and the sustainable restoration and re-use of this brown field site.

Bonus Prize for $5,000.00 was awarded to the entry that demonstrated the most imaginative use of Autodesk Software. This prize was awarded to Liu Di of China for his entry called "Seasonal Flood Threatened Community". This proposal addresses solutions to protect and support communities from serious flood.

An Honorable Mention was also given to the U.K. team - Angela Rivera, the Sustainable Construction Team with DGP International and Scott Wilson Ltd for their highly creative thinking outside of the box called "Tankers Converted to Village". This proposal addresses our soon to be flooded coastlines and offers a solution by converting abandoned oil tankers into sustainable communities.

RK Stewart, President of the American Institute of Architects opened the reception on Friday evening encouraging all disciplines in the building industry to work together in order to rise and meet our global challenges.

Architects have a golden opportunity to make a tremendous difference to our future by showing leadership and demonstrating how readily available sustainable systems of building and design are, exemplified by the works here.

An awards ceremony will be held the weekend of September 21 and 22nd 2007 in Los Angeles.

Contact Info:

Tim Clark
E-mail : tc@anet.net

Caroline Davies
E-mail : photoartist@earthlink.net

Website : Royal Institute of British Architects - USA

Push Forward Time and Save The Earth

EYE ON GLOBAL WARMING
March 12, 2007
The Electronic New Paper

CUT the air-conditioning and save the planet? Take the bus instead of driving?

It's all too difficult.

Energy-guzzling Americans are taking a painless path to conservation - they will cut greenhouse gas emissions by simply pushing forward the hands on their clocks.

At 2am today (3pm tomorrow in Singapore), the US will 'spring forward' one hour to daylight saving time.

This is three weeks earlier than usual.

It will stay on the daylight saving plan until 4 Nov, a week longer.

LOWER FUEL CONSUMPTION

The four extra weeks each year of shifting an hour of daylight from morning to evening is expected to cut fuel consumption.

Demand for electricity falls during early evening peak hours, according to experts.

Democratic representative Ed Markey, who pushed for the idea, said the savings would translate into a 10.8-million-tonne reduction in carbon emissions over the next 13 years.

The move has its advocates and detractors.

Softball teams, which gather on playing fields after work, can start their seasons earlier, as will backyard barbecue enthusiasts.

Some in law enforcement think evening crime rates could fall.

But if you're an early riser or in the transport industry, the idea stinks.

Farmers will lose a precious hour of early light. Orthodox Jews, who wait until sunrise to say morning prayers, lobbied against the provision and airlines complained it would throw their international schedules further out of sync with Europe.

Owners of BlackBerrys and other electronic gizmos have had to scurry to download 'patches' to make sure their devices are aligned with the new time.

For US companies, the time shift is nothing like the Y2K problem eight years ago, when billions of dollars and countless man-hours were spent to protect computer systems as their clocks ticked from 1999 to 2000.

As risk strategist John Pironti pointed out: 'It is going to be a nuisance, not a disaster.'

And while 10.8 million tonnes of carbon emissions may sound like a lot, it pales in comparison to the 5.9 billion tonnes the US emitted just in 2004.
- Reuters.

He's Been A Green Bush All Along

9 Feb 2007 (TODAY)

President said to have made climate change a priority since taking office
in 2001

WASHINGTON - The White House on Wednesday issued a rare open letter
defending United States President George W Bush's record on climate
change, rejecting criticisms that he has only recently awakened to the
problem of global warming.

The letter rejected media reports following the recent release of a United
Nations report on climate change that, it said, perpetuate the claim that
Mr Bush's interest in the issue is new. "In fact, climate change has been
a top priority since the President's first year in office," the letter
said.

"Beginning in June 2001, President Bush has consistently acknowledged
climate change is occurring and humans are contributing to the problem,"
it said, adding excerpts from speeches in 2001 and 2002 as evidence.
"President Bush committed the US to continued leadership on the issue and,
since 2001, has dedicated nearly US$29 billion ($44.4 billion) to advance
climate-related science, technology, international assistance, and
incentive programmes. This is far more than any other nation."

But the letter coincided with hearings in Congress during which experts
and politicians accused the Bush administration of repressing public
debate about global warming.

Environmentalists have alleged since Mr Bush took office in 2001 that his
administration has ignored and tried to hide looming evidence of global
warming and how much humans have exacerbated the situation. The UN climate
change report issued last week concluded that human activity was
principally responsible for climate change. The report was also strongly
critical of Mr Bush's refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on global
warming, which he has criticised as excessively flawed.

While climate change has rarely been mentioned in Mr Bush's major policy
speeches, he noted "the serious challenge of global climate change" in his
annual State of the Union speech on Jan 23, as he introduced a programme
to advance energy conservation and diversification.

The White House letter argued that the US' performance on cutting
emissions of greenhouse gases, which contributes to global warming "is
among the best in the world". "According to the International Energy
Agency, from 2000 to 2004, as our population increased and our economy
grew by nearly 10 per cent, US carbon dioxide emissions increased by only
1.7 per cent," it added. - AFP