From: Dr. Jai Maharaj (usenet@mantra.com)
Subject: Alternative Cities, the Green-Friendly Way
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Date: 2004-11-23 16:44:27 PST
Alternative Cities, the Green-Friendly Way
Forwarded message from fidyl@yahoo.com
[ Subject: Alternative Cities, the Green-Friendly Way
[ From: fidyl@yahoo.com
[ Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004
Alternative Cities, the Green-Friendly Way
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Alarmed by the pace at which consumer-driven lifestyles are
destroying the planet's resources, a leading environmental body has
set its sights on creating a green-friendly haven replete with
houses, restaurants, shops and hotels.
Portugal will serve as the launching pad for these planned
''eco-cities,'' said officials from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as
they revealed the blueprint for the 'One Planet Living' initiative
here Wednesday, at a major conservation conference.
The 4,340 hectares of land south of the Portuguese capital Lisbon,
identified for this first phase in an ambitious global drive towards
alternative living, will have by its completion 6,000 houses,
apartments, shops and hotels. The estimated cost, according to the
WWF, will be over one billion euros (1.3 billion U.S. dollars).
''We aim to build a series of flagship communities for people to live
sustainably, and which are affordable and comfortable,'' Eduardo
Goncalves, coordinator of the 'One Planet Living' initiative, said
during a meeting at the 3rd World Conservation Congress, in the Thai
capital, organized by the World Conservation Union or IUCN.
''The quality of modern life will not be sacrificed in these
communities,'' added Claude Martin, director general of WWF. ''They
will be family friendly.''
The global congress has brought together 81 states, 114 government
agencies, 800 plus non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and some
10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries. It has been billed
as the one of biggest environmental meetings in history.
While the push for such green-friendly living has given rise to new
models of architecture over the past two decades, what sets this new
initiative apart from its predecessors is the scale at which the
planned communities will embrace environmental values.
''The purpose is to integrate many different aspects of life into a
housing concept, including the use of building material, energy,
food, transport,'' Martin told IPS. ''It will be more holistic than
the energy houses that had solar panels in the 1980s.''
That is reflected in the picture painted by Pelicano S.A, a
Portuguese property developer that is a key partner in this WWF
program. It covers the commitment to use sustainable materials,
reduce carbon and waste output, promote renewable energy and, among
others, to turn to local resources for food.
With regard to the use of sustainable materials, the pioneer project
in Portugal aims to use more than 50 percent of it, such as cement,
to construct the buildings in addition to eliminating more than 90
percent of toxic materials for the planned structures.
To cut down on carbon emissions, the property developer pledges to
ensure that 25 percent of the waste is recycled. And to ensure energy
efficiency, the future community will move away from fossil fuels to
having ''photovoltaics in its architectural design, including solar
thermals, small-scale biomass heating and water ponds for a space
cooled system.''
A British environmental group BioRegional is being credited for
laying the foundations for this novel way of living. It pioneered the
''BedZed'' community in south London, where houses, for instance,
were built to meet new environment-friendly standards, including the
complete use of renewable energy for power and heating.
In addition to Portugal, other areas in Europe, Australia, Britain,
the United States and South Africa have been identified to create
these communities as part of the pioneering effort.
''Even the authorities in China are interested in building a 'One
Planet Living' community,'' Goncalves told IPS. ''The details are to
be decided but we are talking of a city in effect.''
Once the first phase is achieved, WWF will launch the broader and
more global second phase by 2007, SAID Goncalves. ''In phase two, we
hope to get countries in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin
America interested.''
Such communities will be pivotal to ''undo the damage we have done to
the planet,'' he added. ''We need to find solutions to avoid the
crisis emerging from the current unsustainable lifestyles.''
The revolution in living that the WWF hopes to unleash through this
plan stems from the disturbing reports it has compiled of the earth's
resources being destroyed by the modern style of life.
In its 'Living Planet Report 2004,' released weeks ahead of the
Bangkok conference, WWF revealed that humanity's demand on the
resources had exceeded the earth's supply capacity since the
mid-1980s, with North America and Europe leading the assault on the
planet's limited resources.
The average U.S. citizen requires 10 hectares of the planet to
support his or her lifestyle, while the average European requires
over five hectares, the report noted. By contrast, the average
citizen in Africa draws on about one hectare of the earth's resources
to live.
The differences in these ecological footprints - which are caused by
high consumption patterns in the developed world - are starker when
seen in another light. According to the report, the average footprint
of a person today is nearly 2.2 hectares, which is in excess of the
1.8 hectares of land for natural resources available for each
resident of the planet.
At this rate, ''we need 1.2 planets to sustain our collective
lifestyles,'' said Marten. ''Sustainable housing is one response to
it, but you cannot have one blueprint for the whole world. We must
work with local communities, local architects.''
End of forwarded message from fidyl@yahoo.com
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send
peace, but a sword.
"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and
the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her
mother in
law.
"And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
- Matthew 10:34-36.
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