Investing on Renewable Energy

August 20, 2009; UN Dining Hall: Invite from Ambassador Lorenzo of Dominican Republic with investment bankers from Auriga Bank (l to r) Brian Rotchford, Ignacio Ortega, David Cortes, Adi Divgi; interested on investing on renewable energy in South America

It was very interesting to experience first hand an ongoing negotiation on investing in renewable energy in developing countries. An integral aspect to progressing into pursuing sustainable developments.

Interview with Dr. Pachauri

Interview with Dr. Pachauri for the UN General Assembly on REDD & plans for upcoming COP15 at Yale University.



So I've never done interviews before- my first just so happens to be with a Nobel laureate- for the UN- General Assembly. It was only even because the film maker needed help- I just so happen to be there.

Though- putting it in the context where- I'm sitting across this man asking him questions on Climate Change thinking, "This morning I was watching interviews given to the man across me, now i'm giving them myself. "

Did I want to save the world at age 10? That is definitely reality at it's most genuine intention. For that, everything else followed.

Dr. Rajendra Pachauri

Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Chairman of IPCC, Director General of TERI; Rajendra Kumar Pachauri. Shared Nobel Peace Prize with the IPCC and Al Gore.

September 12, 2009

At Concert for Pakistan at the UN General Assembly Hall hosted by Ambassador Haroon and Junoon Group to raise awareness and demonstrate unity with the people dislocated during the recent fighting against Taliban militants in Pakistan.

To our future world leaders

Our future world leaders,

It was an honor to meet all of you, and for those that I had the pleasure to meet again, it was so great to finally see you. For those of you who took the time to come to the YAUN and You workshop, thank you for making it a big success. We had a lot of great feedback, and it was due to your presence that the workshop was successful.

Hearing of your story and your aspirations leaves me only inspired and even more hopeful for a future that needs dire change. We can not solve the challenges of our time unless we do them together. We may have different stories, We may not look the same, We may not all come from the same place, but we all want the same thing.

We can be the greatest generation, WE ARE THE GREATEST GENERATION. This is our moment, this is our time. Together, we will transform the world, towards a better future, for our children and our grand children.

Looking forward to working on projects with you, and I hope we cross paths again soon.

Esperanza


We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.

— Native American Proverb


We were told that it was overcapacity, thank you all for coming. Hard work paid off.


Discussing MDG 7 group: Environmental Sustainability


Global Youth Leaders & International Youth Council Team



MORE PICS: http://internationalyouthcouncil.blogspot.com/2009/08/to-our-future-world-leaders.html >




Thank you GLOCAL YOUTH PARLIAMENT for your support: http://www.glocalyouth.org/news/?id=267&id_p=314&lng=en

Youth Assembly at the United Nations & YOU Workshop

The International Youth Council Presents:
"The Youth Assembly and You: Directing Your Passion Into Action"

A Workshop for the Youth Assembly at the United Nations
Friday, August 7th
United Nations Headquarters in Conference Room 6.





Five IYC Directors will be facilitating the workshop around youth empowerment and leading small break-out groups around each Millennium Development Goal.

YOUTH ASSEMBLY AT THE UN & YOU Workshop
Directing your passion into action

Hungry to leave and start making your difference in the world? Wondering how to best utilize this magnificent opportunity? The YA & You is a workshop that aims to help you focus your experience and passion into valuable action when you return home. Led by two returning Global Youth Leaders, this workshop aims to reveal some of the tips, tricks and guidance towards having an action rich platform.

The Youth Assembly recruits hundreds of young individuals, all equally motivated and inspirational. Network in order to find out what other YA delegates have done since their YA experience as well as promote YOUR work with the Millennium Development Goals.

Our goal is to help you succeed in your MDG project and expand your network with individuals devoted to changing the world.

Held by:

Lead Facilitator - ESPERANZA GARCIA
*Director of Global Warming & Climate Change Initiatives and Director of Projects in the Philippines for International Youth Council
*Committee Chair for the Youth for the Philippine Green Building Council

Lead Facilitator - ANGELA JHANJI
*Trustee for UK Youth
* International Delegate of London for the Glocal Youth Parliament
* Director of Projects from the United Kingdom for International Youth Council

JAMIE ANSORGE
*Director of Global Operations for the International Youth Council

MIGUEL TORO
*Founder of Inspire
*Director of Projects from Puerto Rico for the International Youth Council

ASHA CASTLEBERRY
*Director of Strategic Projects for the International Youth Council

To learn more:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=191836800513&ref=ts
Email: YAUNandYou@Gmail.com

Youth Assembly at the United Nations and You!

AUGUST 5 - 7, 2009, UN HEADQUARTERS, NYC

Make your Youth Assembly at the United Nations experience a success!

Hungry to leave and start making your difference in the world? Wondering how to best utilize this opportunity? The YA & You is a workshop that aims to help you focus your experience and passion into valuable action when you return home. Led by two returning Global Youth Leaders, this workshop aims to reveal some of the tips, tricks and guidance towards having an action rich resume.

The Youth Assembly recruits hundreds of young individuals, all equally motivated and inspirational. Network in order to find out what other YA delegates have done since their YA experience as well as promote YOUR work with the Millennium Development Goals.


YA UN & You workshop will be held by:


ESPERANZA GARCIA

*Director of Global Warming & Climate Change Initiatives and Director of Projects in the Philippines for International Youth Council
*Committee Chair for the Youth for the Philippine Green Building Council

ANGELA JHANJI

*The UK Youth Trustee
* International Delegate of London for the Global Youth Parliament



Expand your YA UN network at:

FACEBOOK:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=191836800513&ref=ts
NING Group: http://yaunandyou.ning.com/
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/YAUNandYOU


Email: yaunandyou@gmail.com



Our goal is to help you succeed in your MDG project and expand your network with individuals devoted to changing the world.




6TH ANNUAL YOUTH ASSEMBLY INFO:

YOUTH ASSEMBLY AT THE UN 2009:
http://www.faf.org/unyouthassembly/ya_home.htm

Philippine Green Building Council Appointment

Cool Philippine Green Building Council Appointment to represent the YOUTH!

http://philgbc.org/

Excited about this great opportunity and looking forward to greening the Philippines with PHIL GBC and the young advocates of change of the Philippines!

Tour de Cure

TOUR DE CURE






Hi!

We did it! We raised $400 for the cause and finished the Tour de Cure route! More importantly, it was all due to your generous support! Tour de Cure is a series of fundraising bicycling events across the country benefiting the American Diabetes Association. Your tax-deductible gift will go to the support research, advocacy and education for diabetes. Thanks for helping the hundreds and millions of people who suffer from diabetes. Our efforts will help set the pace in the fight against diabetes.

With Love,

Esperanza






***LINK on Tour de Cure:

http://tour.diabetes.org/

**LINK on Personal Tour de Cure page:

http://main.diabetes.org/goto/esperanzagarcia

**LINK on Esperanza Garcia Tour de Cure Blog:

http://ecohope.blogspot.com/2009/03/tour-de-cure.html

Lamak Elementary School

SALAKOT SCHOOL - LAMAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Help in making this school possible for the children of Barili, Cebu!


The benefits of design comes in manifolds. Design can build a school for children in a remote area where access to water, energy, and educational materials are difficult to distribute, Design can promote a healthier environment for the children in a school building by using sustainable materials and techniques, Design can support indigenous and native designs and practices in a country that is becoming Westernized. The Salakot School Project allows us to explore good design that can save lives.

The Salakot school design is a low-cost school made from sustainable and indigenuous materials for low-income families.The proposed public school building renovation of the Salakot School is for the Lamak Elementary School, located in Sitio Lamak, Baranagay Mayana Barili, Cebu City, Philippines. The school caters to the elementary grades, from Grade 1 to Grade 6. In 2009, first year high school will be opened. Thus an expansion for additional classrooms is necessary.


Open Architecture Challenge:
http://www.openarchitecturenetwork.org/competitions/challenge/2009

BELIEVE THAT GOOD DESIGN CAN SAVE LIVES!

Master's Degree Program on Environmental Studies

Need Recommendation for Master's Program on ff:

1. Environmental Policy Studies

2. International Environmental Law

3. Enviromental Engineering

4. Urban Design & Environmental Planning

5. Sustainable Development Studies

For suggestions, would appreciate a response at email: garciaesperanza@live.com

Sustainable & Low-cost School designed by Esperanza Garcia

LAMAK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Designed by Esperanza Garcia 

THE SALAKOT SCHOOL




The Salakot School is a low-cost school made of sustainable and indigenous materials for low-income families based in a municipal Barili, in Cebu Philippines.



SALAKOT SCHOOL NATURAL VENTILATION STRATEGY

An architectural design that promotes cross ventilation, decreases energy use, and appropriate for Philippine tropical weather.

PASSIVE SOLAR

The school design allows natural light to go inside each classroom from two sides of each wall. This decreases energy use within the building.


NATURAL VENTILATION

Cross ventilation happens when cool air from outside enters a building and forces warm air out through an outlet such as a window or door. Due to the tropical climate in the Philippines, natural-ventilation strategies in architectural design is important. Creating cross ventilation in a school brings in oxygen and creates a cooler environment. The design of the school allows natural ventilation in the classroom and interior space of the school.



ALIBATA
Alibata is the ancient script of the Philippines. Alibata is the Filipino writing used before the Spanish colonization, and no longer used today. It is important to re-introduce the writing form back to the Philippine education system. Adorning the classroom walls with the Alibata alphabet will be a reminder for children of their heritage.




LOCAL MATERIALS

ABACA
Abaca, known as Manila hemp, is the strongest natural fiber in the world. It is grown mainly in the Philippines. The furniture designs in the classroom will be made from Abaca fibers.

BAMBOO
Bamboo is the most eco-friendly material in the world, as it is renewable. The Bamboo culm can grow up to one meter in a single night. Fortunately, the Philippines has an abundance of bamboo. Bamboo is flexible, stress-resistant, and an endless regenerative resource, making this resource appropriate to support the architectural structure of the Salakot school. Bamboo flooring will also be used.

RATTAN
Rattan palm vine can grow up to 600 feet long. In the early days, rattan was used for rigging small boats, hauling and bailing as supports for suspension bridges, and for lashing bamboo frameworks of thatched houses. Rattan will be used in the wall designs and furniture of the school.





PLAYPUMP SYSTEM


The PlayPump system is a water pump that provides easy access to clean drinking water, powered by children at play. PlayPump has lead to improvements in health, education, gender equality, and economic development. The interior courtyard of the school will integrate the playpump system. The water feature that surrounds the exterior of the school will benefit the PlayPump system.

"While children have fun spinning on the PlayPump merry-go-round (1), clean water is pumped (2) from underground (3) into a 2,500-liter tank (4), standing seven meters above the ground. A simple tap (5) makes it easy for adults and children to draw water. Excess water is diverted from the storage tank back down into the borehole (6). The water storage tank (7) provides a rare opportunity to advertise in outlaying communities. All four sides of the tank are leased as billboards, with two sides for consumer advertising and the other two sides for health and educational messages. The revenue generated by this unique model pays for pump maintenance."


Link: http://www.playpumps.org

Believe that "GOOD DESIGN WILL SAVE THE WORLD!"

Youth Assembly Founders Have Inspiring Impact on Future Generations

Esperanza Garcia's Letter at the Youth Assembly at the United Nations Blog:


Youth Assembly Founders Have Inspiring Impact on Future Generations

Your Impact by Visiting Link: ESPERANZA GARCIA LETTER

Tour de Cure 2009 Update

Nearing Tour de Cure, and have raised 80% of goal! $100 more to go! Please help support cause!

http://main.diabetes.org/goto/esperanzagarcia

With Love,

Esperanza

2008 Projects

Esperanza Garcia 2008-2009
To put some sense into this life...

1. Scholar/ Youth Representative/ Co-founder for The Global Summit (TGS)

Links: http://theglobalsummit.org/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33101440@N03/3087457255/sizes/l/

Info: The Global Summit™ (TGS) is a social, economic, and environmental event produced by Empowerment Works (EW), a nonprofit organization promoting global partnerships for a sustainable world. Each year, citizens, organizations, and businesses who participate in The Global Summit™ are able to join forces and, together, become vehicles of positive change.

Action: Gained full scholarship at The Global Summit, had the position of Youth representative, and I was able to give young individuals from all over the world to become youth scholars for the event. The youth included Chloe Hall (US), Isabella Schlipp (US), Josefa Isabel Garcia (Philippines), Emmanuel Onywera (Nigeria), Asha Castleberry (US), Carla Banson (Philippines), and Miguel Toro (Puerto Rico). The International Youth Council was one of the co-founders of the event.

Scholars & Youth Representatives at the Global Summit

2. Founder of Eco-design & Sustainable Development Facebook Group

Link: http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2209038152&ref=ts

Info: Acknowledging Humanitarian, Ecological, and Economical design solutions that promote sustainable developments.

Action: I started the facebook group in 2006 to be able to meet other people who had knowledge on sustainable developments. Initially, there were less than a hundred members in the first year to almost 3,500 members to this date. Only proving even more how critical people want to be involved in this critical issue—Global Warming & Climate Change.


3. Director of Global Warming & Climate Change Initiatives for the International Youth Council and GLACCIER Campaign

Link: http://glaccier.blogspot.com/
http://glaccier-ph.ning.com/
http://internationalyouthcouncil.blogspot.com/

Info: Global Legal Action on Climate Change for International Environmental Responsibility (GLACCIER) and Internatonal Youth Council (IYC) are now emerging to take action against the present ongoing impact of climate changes and global heating.

Action: Gathering young individuals from all over the world who will work closely with top environmental lawyers that are willing to take action against any person or entity who fails or refuses to abide by our efforts. We are building on a great global case analysis.


The International Youth council in action. With Farah Al-Azab (Jordan), Kinga Katus (Hungary), Ahmad Alhindawi (Jordan), Eric Dales (Canada), Elizabeth (US), Asha Castleberry (US), Jaime Ansorge (US), and Angela Jhanji (UK)


4. Chief Campaigner for the Youth for the Philippine Green Building Council

Link: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=35113313025
http://philgbc.org/

Info: The Philippine Green Building Council is the leading green building campaign in the Philippines. A non-stock, non-profit organization in the Philippines focusing on the promotion of sustainable building practices in the industry.


Action: Gathering students from all over the Philippines to engage in sustainable practices and designs. Currently proposing a Phil. GBC Student Campus Campaign

with Chris de la Cruz, Chairman and President at The Philippine Green Building Council, Romy de Jesus, UAP President, & Bianca Araneta, Earth Hour Philippines WWF ambassador, at the Philippine Green Building Forum

5. Global Youth Leader for the Youth Assembly at the United Nations

Link: http://www.faf.org/unyouthassembly/testimonials.htm
http://www.faf.org/unyouthassembly/ya_home.htm

Info: The Youth Assembly is an annual gathering of hundreds of young people from around the world who seek practical ways to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, global networking and social entrepreneurship skills as well as meeting with and contributing to civil society formally affiliated with the United Nations. The Youth Assembly is about showing how one person can make a difference by engaging with the challenges of the present and being an educated and active citizen.

Action: Attended the Youth Assembly at the United Nations leadership seminar, met young individuals, all equally inspirational, devoted, and accomplished, each wanting to make a big difference in the world. Led a presentation to find solutions with representatives from Australia, Puerto Rico, Nigeria, & Philippines and presented our solution on Climate Change & Education, which included a low-cost, self-sufficient building solution that integrated environmental awareness in the school curriculum in Nigeria.

with Tessa Satherley (Australia), Miguel Toro (Puerto Rico), & Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere Micheal (Nigeria): Presenting our solution on Climate Change & Education

Global Youth Leaders 2008

6. Volunteer for the Ecocity World Summit, Green Festival, and West Coast Green since 2007

Link: http://www.ecocityworldsummit.org/index.htm,
http://www.westcoastgreen.com/
http://www.greenfestivals.org/

Info:
Ecocity World Summit 2008 - Usher's Crowd Control for Mayor's Conference
The Ecocity World Summit is a conference that gathered many of the world's best and brightest speakers, moderators and delegates representing the Ecocity approach.

Green festival 2007 & 2008 - Speaker Room Attendant
Green Festival is the largest sustainability event in the world.

West Coast Green 2007 & 2008 - Hospitality Staff
West Coast Green is the largest venue for green innovation, building, business, and design.

Action: Supporting and networking with individuals & organizations in pursuit of sustainable developments.

WEST COAST GREEN DESIGN CHARETTE: Building an Ecocity-- Planning West Oakland, CA with great minds, including Richard Register, founder of Ecocity Builders.

Volunteering at the Ecocity World Summit '08 with Dr. Serigne Mbaye Diene


7. AAU Student Representative to "Clean & Green the SF Community"

Info: Volunteering to "Clean & Green the SF Community, Schools, and Parks"


Action: Celebrating Earth Day by cleaning schools & parks & serving as the assistant of the AAU Vice President. Gathered fellow students to help Green and Clean John O' Connell High School & St. Mary Playground. We helped in beautifying the neighborhood in District 9.

Serving as Student Representative of Academy of Art University to 'Clean and Green' communities in San Francisco


8. Intern at Architecture International

Link: http://www.arch-intl.com/
egarcia@arch-intl.com

Info: A U.S. based architecture design firm providing architecture, urban planning, and interior design services

Action: Gained experience and hindsight on working in a world-renowned architecture firm. Increased network in the building industry. Developed design skills and learned more about architecture, urban planning, and interior design.

Meeting on green architecture with Winston G., President and General Manager of GSIS, GSIS associates, and John Sheehy & William Higgins, bosses at Architecture International at the GSIS headquarters, Manila, Philippines.

More of 2008

More of 2008
For the generations after us.

"Cleaning & Greening" the SF Community. Celebrating Earth Day 2008 by cleaning schools & parks & serving as the assistant of the AAU Vice President.

Teaching kids how recycling can be fun!

Teaching kids the letter "E" for Earth!

UN

Global Youth Leaders 2008 Youth Assembly UN

with Sim van der Ryn at West Coast Green; Acknowledged as a leader in "Sustainable Architecture" at West Coast Green

Group hug with Dr. Arun Gandhi & Dr. Elaine Valdov



John Sheehy, Sherry Caplan, & William Higgins of Architecture International (my bosses at AI)

with Leaders, Architects, & Teachers of Green Design of Academy of Art University & UC Berkeley. Eric Corey Freed, Micheal Sammet, Craig Henritzy at the Ecocity World Summit in San Francisco

Celebrating Obama's victory in Union Square

World Affairs Council Global Citizenship Award scholars honoring Muhammad Yunus

with Asha Castleberry, Director of Finance and Global Partnerships of the International Youth Council and our friend from the Amazon jungle!

UN

6TH ANNUAL YOUTH ASSEMBLY AT THE UNITED NATIONS

6TH ANNUAL YOUTH ASSEMBLY AT THE UNITED NATIONS

DATE: August 5-7, 2009

(June 5, 2009 Deadline for Registration)

Encouraging you to participate!
The youth involved are truly inspirational.

http://www.faf.org/unyouthassembly/ya_home.htm

http://www.faf.org/unyouthassembly/testimonials.htm

San Francisco's Generation Y

AAU "Clean & Green SF Community" Team!




“The only ethical decision is to take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children." (Mollsion, 1990)

The youth have an enormous impact in the present and future state of the planet. UNESCO states that “The lifestyles of the youth influence commerce and media - and shape the process of production, marketing, and consumption patterns of goods and services.” As future workers, entrepreneurs, parents, political leaders, and policy makers, it is integral to create an environment that will influence their future decisions and actions to benefit the generation after them. In 2007, United States ranked 1st as a global warming polluter, compared to other large nations. The youth drive the market in media, fashion, and entertainment, but there is a lack in influence in integral and critical issues that is responsible for their future – the disastrous effects of global warming.

Generation Y includes anyone that was born after 1981. San Francisco’s population profile states that 1/4 of the San Francisco residents are below 30, and considered as part of Generation Y. The young generation ais acknowledging that climate change initiatives must be taken but, there is a lack of participation. "My generation's biggest icons aren't politicians and Nobel Peace Prize Laureates — they're rappers and rock stars," said Luke Ramersad, a junior at Lowell High School, San Francisco, Calif. In the United States, there has yet to be a single bill passed by Congress to cut global warming pollution. Yet, is it common to see a young San Francisco resident lobbying for stronger climate change policies?”

With 80% of the world’s CO2 coming from cities, it is evident that the youth’s actions and lifestyle are responsible for the mitigation of climate change. The U.S. Census Bureau and the National Geographic Society’s Green Guide states that San Francisco is the second greenest city in the US, after Portland. San Francisco is one of the cities that have leaders that support the environment. Mayor Gavin Newsom, is aiming for 75 % waste diversion by 2010 and have Zero-waste by 2020. Most importantly, Mayor Newsom believes in integrating environmental awareness in the education system. “I’d like to see comprehensive curriculum in our schools as it relates to environmental stewardship. I’d like this city to be the example for the rest of the country,” says Newsom at an interview with Ecocity World Summit. Agenda 21, the sustainable development blueprint for the 21st Century, recognized in Chapter 36 that education, public awareness, and training are critical for sustainable development, and that participation and involvement of young people, alongside other eight major groups, are essential in its implementation .

Jared Blumenfeld, Director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment, thinks that the biggest sustainability challenge is sustaining people’s attention, “It’s difficult because we’re competing for people’s attention. So, keeping it relevant and interesting and cool and impactful is the constant challenge,” he says. How can San Francisco engage the youth in tGlobal Warming & Climate Change and use their power to create positive change?

In the upcoming months, Obama’s greatest challenge is to find a careful balance stimulating the economy and investing in the long-term future of the environment, said Raj, the professor of economics for Univeresity of California, Berkeley. Sustainable development is defined by Britannica as “an approach to economic planning that attempts to foster economic growth while preserving the quality of the environment for future generations.” Development begins with the community and it is only sustainable if it is supported by members of these communities. It is not only about 10% of the population reducing their carbon footprint, it is people working collectively together in the community to contribute in enhancing the environment. The San Francisco community should propose a budget plan that provides the youth with an opportunity to acknowledge and support sustainable development. The youth imposing and practicing sustainable development will benefit future generations to come.

If Global Warming and mitigating Climate Change had the attention of Generation Y, they will affect their parents, the media and help the economy move forward in a direction that will benefit not only their generation, but the generation after them. Al Gore, while accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, said at the end of his speech, “Make no mistake, the next generation will ask us one of two questions. Either they will ask: “What were you thinking; why didn’t you act?” Or they will ask instead: “How did you find the moral courage to rise and successfully resolve a crisis that so many said was impossible to solve?” The Generation Y has an opportunity to become that generation, and we can start in San Francisco, the city mentioned by Newsom “We’re about civil rights and equal rights, you better believe it.”



Work Cited:
“Global Warming by the Numbers. Chilling statistics to think about.” Environmental Defense Fund. 24 Febuary 2009.
Corcoran, Peter; Blaze, Peter. “Young People, Education, and Sustainable Development. Exploring Principles, Perspectives, and Praxis Editors. 2 February 2009. < www.fgcu.edu/CESE/Files/Kitabu_Concept_Statement.pdf>

“San Francisco Visionaries.” Ecocity World Summit. 6 February 2008.

Barabak, Mark. “San Francisco’s Mayor Gavin Newsom launches exploratory bid for governor.” LA Times. 2 July 2008. http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/02/local/me-newsom2
“San Francsico: Population Profile.” City Data. 21 February 2009. < http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-West/San-Francisco-Population-Profile.html >

Vaccaro, Amie. “Interview with Jared Blumenfeld, Director, San Francisco Department of the Environment.’October 17th, 2008

“Sustainable Development.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 25 Feb. 2009. < http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/765435/environmental-law/224618/Sustainable-development#ref=ref750231>

Leach, Adam. “Global recession - keeping business at the heart of sustainable development.”19 November 2008. http://www.iblf.org/resources/ebulletin/November08.htm

Azadeh, Anzari. “Energy, economy create balancing act for Obama.” CNN. 30 January 2009.

Richard Register's "Ecocities: Building Cities in Balance with Nature"

"Ecocities: Building Cities in Balance with Nature" by Richard Register

AS WE BUILD SO SHALL WE LIVE Chapter

Richard Register has been an environmental activist for a long time—being ecologically aware is his nature. Upon reading the first chapter, “As we build, so shall we live,” already I am beginning to feel compassion towards the environmental acitivists, like him, during the phase in which he calls “The Second Urbanization of America.” During the third millennium, as the introduction of more highways, parking spaces, bridges, car infrastructures catapulted and destroying our civilization – there were people like Richard Register, who were trying to refrain from a self-destructing environment. They realized how integral it was to live in “ecocities” that complemented nature, and not go against it. While the US government and large corporations were ignoring our environment, there were visionaries who were trying to preserve our future, and they were ignored. I feel for their fight. (Cheesy much?)

People that I’ve spoken to about the book mention that the book can be a little bit dry. I too found myself almost lost in the midst of a paragraph. Register has ideas and thoughts with a magnitude of substance that should be applied in our urban planning and become a guide for re-developing our civilization. Relaying those ideas however, should also be able to apply to connecting to humans, as we are the ones who will be benefiting from his vision.


Questions:
1. What is the difference between a “constructed-marsh waste system ”(p.28) and Living Machines?


Highlights:

"Redesigning and Building Whole Cities on Ecological Principles"

“Building a nonviolent city that respects other life forms and celebrates human creativity and diversity is consistent with solving those problems.”

“The edifice edifies”

“Children in today’s typical-car dominated cities learn that cars are valued so highly that it is worth risking human life and enduring high costs and serious pollution to make way for them. They also learn that people don’t care much for public life or nature. “

“At the European Eco-Logical Architecture Congress in Stockholm and Helsinki in Aug. 1992, there was discussion on designing ‘ecological building.’ These buildings features renewable energy systems, built-in recycling, non-toxic building materials, interior greenhous planting and rooftop gardens.”

“If Ecology is not about the individual organism in its community of other living thins, what is it about? If ecological buildings are not about their relationship to other structures, public open spaces, and the life of the whole community, what are they about?... ‘The parking lot. That’s where you go to connect with it.”


“I concluded that it was time to re-unify the dis-integrated city and bring the eco- and social- strains back together again in a New Synthesis Architecture. In this philosophy, the building is primarily conceived as a part of, not apart from, the rest of the larger built community, and positively related to the community of natural environments and life forms.”



Planning West Oakland, CA with eco-visionaries & Richard Register (to my left), author of "Ecocities: Building Cities in Balance with Nature"at the West Coast Green Design Charette, Environment

With Urban Re:Visionaries

WITH URBAN RE:VISIONARIES

"There was a time for visionaries. To Think, To Plan, To Dream-- but is there time to dream these days? It's time to Revise, Redo, React, to turn visionary ideas into action. Its time for revisionaries."

Link:
http://www.revision-dallas.com/


Van Jones at the SF Green Festival

It was honor to meet Van Jones. He signed his book on "The Green Collar Economy," that I got for my dad and wrote, "Your daughter loves you." After many-a-book-signings his charisma is 'au naturel'. Van Jones activates the green movement towards those who need it the most. The core of urban communities whose lives have been affected by environmental degradation and social injustice. Founder of "Green for All" and the new appointee to the White House Council on environmental quality.


http://www.greenforall.org/
http://vanjones.net/




Ecocity World Summit

Architects & Teachers of Green Design of Academy of Art University & UC Berkeley. Eric Corey Freed, Micheal Sammet, Craig Henritzy at the Ecocity World Summit in San Francisco.

Link:
http://www.greenbuildinglawupdate.com/2009/03/articles/freed-design-winner-will-build-actual-city-block/