zero energy homes

Wired News: Living Free and Easy: "Completely energy-self-sufficient homes will likely be built in some regions of the United States by 2010"

I want something like this; need to find out if anyone's doing this commercially in Britain.

The Great Southwest Salt Saga

Wired 12.11:When we consider the future and the place of water in it, this article is sobering reading, as much for the questions that it doesn't ask, like, how long can the aquifers last?

Immune to marketting?

Wired News: Stop Trying to Persuade Us: "The Persuaders maintains that the marketers may be losing ground. In the film, author Naomi Klein compares consumers to roaches -- we've been sprayed so much that we've begun developing immunities."

'Nuff said? I've long suspected this may be happening from my own lack of awareness about what's been pitched at me ... on the other hand, have I been persuaded at a subconscious level, mimetic creature that I am?

A third way in China?

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | One week in the life of the Chinese miracle: "Early morning on the Bund in Shanghai -Photo: Dan Chung/Guardian"
Continuing reflections on China -apparently the Guardian are doing a series this week.

The economics are interesting; get this.
"To be honest, I don't think Shanghai has any relation to Marxism," he said. "Before I joined the Communist party, we needed to learn Marxism, but most commonly I look at this book." Zhang reached up to the shelves over his desk and took down a volume called Principles of Economics by N Gregory Mankiw. Mankiw is chief economic adviser to President George Bush.

And apparently it is the Chinese economy that is bankrolling western adventurism at present. No, really; think about it -use this article to help you.

Little Emporors?

Guardian
Unlimited | Special reports | Home alone:
Continuing my interest in what makes the world's next superpower tick, I saw this article. One of the things it says is that obesity was predicted to become a big issue - I have to say that I want to question that; all the Chinese I have met who have come over to Britain to study seem to be fairly thin or average ... and apparently they are typical. Obesity is not [yet] a big problem.

Of greater interest is the cultural effect of heavy messaging on having fewer children ...
"'Twenty or 30 years of propaganda and government implementation of the policy has really changed people's minds about reproduction,' explains Peng. 'The problem for demographers and policymakers in Shanghai is not, 'Will these children have two or three kids?' - but whether they will have any kids.'"

And of course this does mean -like in western Europe, there is likely to be an issue, crisis even, over pensions at some point in about 40 years. Apparently a state pension is not guaranteed so parents need that one child to maximise their earning power.

So the other issue -one that I have heard Chinese students articulate is that being an only chiold means carrying all the hopes of your family; "One of the things that happens when you're an only child, the thing that happens in China," says, Zheng Xiu Yi, a boy who has lived in the States, "is that everything is focused on your grades, every aspect of expectation is focused on your grades. If you don't have good grades, you aren't a good child." A kind of protestant work-ethic without the religious dimension.

And when it comes to studying we should be aware how bright these kids can be and note how it works with our university system:
Everyone in China knows that the cleverest, most ambitious students choose top universities at home first; the US - where there are scholarships - second; and English universities only third or fourth. Chinese students know our speciality is selling prestige for money. That chiimes with what my friend Jem Clines discovered when he went to China; that British Universities were being sold as 'easy' ways to get a degree.

Interesting stuff and impacting our future in 10 years time.

Canada or Jesusland?

I'll leave the last word to one of the comments posted ...
…if only the green part of the map was actually devoted to Jesus, instead of some self-constructed version of “moral values”, then this map would be a compliment instead of the insult it intends.

Prospects for world action

Picture: Landsat satellite images show a glacier in Iceland which has receded by as much as 2 km since 1973

How much difference will Bush's election make; here's another set of facotrs; big busniness is already eading the signs and gearing up for action ... can bush and the cronies be far behind? PAss them the ammo -ie good-book friendly rhetoric on how saving the planet is godly.