XPost: alt.current-events.usa, alt.dreams, alt.earth.crisis   
   From: blog@lovolution.net   
      
   Race to Build an Ecocity   
      
   by Doctress Neutopia   
      
   In the article, "British to Help China Build Eco-cities," the words by Frank   
   Kane penetrated my mind with such a fire that my body was delighted with the   
   possibility of such a noble creation. It stated that a British engineering   
   firm, Arup, will sign a multi-billion dollar contract with the Chinese   
   government to design a self-sustaining urban center the size of a large   
   western capital.   
      
   The ecocity model is being embraced by the Chinese government to overcome   
   the problems of depletion of natural resources, the need to shelter larger   
   populations, and environmental pollution. According to Kane, the Chinese   
   government is committed to developing a new paradigm that combines economic   
   development and ecological health. The ecocity is intended to be   
   self-sufficient not only in energy, but in water and in most food   
   production. Transportation systems will be designed for zero emissions of   
   greenhouse gases. These ecocities are expected to draw investments into   
   China's growing economy.   
      
   American architect William McDonough is also working with the Chinese   
   Housing Industry Association to build seven new environmentally sound   
   cities. China is planning on rehousing 400 million people in the next 12   
   years. These cities will be designed with solar energy which may completely   
   revolutionize the housing industry around the world by dropping the cost of   
   solar energy an order of magnitude. McDonough says, "For every job making   
   solar panels, there are four jobs putting them in place and maintaining   
   them. We could import these panels, and for every job the Chinese give   
   themselves, we get four."   
      
   McDonough and his partner Michael Braungart intend to implement their   
   "cradle-to-cradle" model of industry into the new Chinese ecocities that   
   "upcycles" materials going through the production cycle. Upcycling means   
   that materials get better when they are used. Since in their ecological   
   model, everything is recycled, in the upcycle process, materials return to   
   the soil as safe biological nutrients or return to industry as technical   
   nutrients to be used in other industrial processes.   
      
   China is well as on its way to becoming the biggest economy in the world.   
   America feels this change. Adopting the ecocity concept and founding cities   
   on renewable energy sources, the Chinese realize that if they carried out   
   the American urban sprawl model, it would mean environmental death for the   
   world. There are simply not enough resources on the planet for everyone to   
   live the way Americans, 6% of the world's population, do now. How can it be   
   fair or sustainable that Americans use 40% of the world's resources? The   
   American empire was established on the illusion that land and resources are   
   limitless. But on a small planet, these are not 21st Century principles.   
      
   When asked by Newsweek if growth is good, McDonough replies, "Yes, if you   
   use nature as a model and mentor, if you use modern designs and chemicals   
   that are safe. Growth is destructive if you use energy not from the sun and   
   a system of chemicals that is toxic, so it's anti-life." Sadly enough, with   
   the drowning of New Orleans in toxic flood waters, it is clear to everyone   
   that the American lifestyle is based on unsafe growth practices that   
   continue to pollute the water and shortchange the poor. Evolution follows   
   life, and with the Chinese developing nontoxic, safe ways to live that   
   promote healthy urban growth, it is no wonder why Americans are feeling a   
   shift in power.   
      
   Visionaries have predicted the coming of the solar age and now the Chinese   
   are inventing it. But will Americans seize the moment and begin building   
   their own innovative ecocity? The perfect time to do so is now with the   
   reconstruction of New Orleans and the restoration of the wetlands of the   
   Mississippi delta. Billions of dollars have been allotted by Congress for   
   reconstruction efforts, so why not create a noble civilization based on an   
   ecocity design approach?   
      
   We need to enter this new green paradigm with a new spirit of cooperation   
   with the Chinese, moving from the 20th Century nuclear arms race to the race   
   to be human; a human race to build the good ecocity where justice and   
   freedom prevail in maintaining an ecologically healthy planet for   
   generations to come. The drowning of New Orleans gives us the opportunity to   
   enter this race with the Chinese. This is a wholesome competition between   
   people to build the best ecocity, the new model of a sustaining global   
   economy, and democracy grounded in human rights that will allow us all to   
   live in peace with the ecology.   
      
   A new partnership with China could give us a base for positive trade   
   agreements that combine the best of socialism and capitalism moving us to a   
   more automated 21st century industry. Liberated from being slaves to the   
   machine and a decrepit corporate system, common people finally could have   
   the time and resources they need to be literate and creative, time to   
   develop relationships that are based on being responsible citizens and   
   actualized human beings.   
      
   Presently, the United States is stuck in a development model that is   
   dependent on fossil fuel, nuclear power, and toxic chemicals. It is causing   
   us to be sick and many of us die as a result of being exposed to dirty air   
   and poisonous water. Millions of people in the United States don't even have   
   health insurance when illness strikes. Each year an average of 40,000 people   
   die and thousands more are injured from the car based transportation system.   
   And worst of all, our anti-life lifestyle has caused us to act immorally   
   from stealing Native America lands to starting foreign wars for oil. Unable   
   to embrace life, we have trapped ourselves in a deadly paradigm, developing   
   nuclear weapons in Outer Space, all the while telling other countries that   
   they can't have them.   
      
   America was caught totally off guard when the Soviets successfully launched   
   Sputnik, the first satellite into Outer Space in 1957. It changed our   
   priorities and began the space race. Seeing the importance of developing a   
   space program in 1961 President Kennedy challenged the Soviets to a race to   
   the moon. Kennedy said, "Now is the time...for this nation to take a clearly   
   leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to   
   our future on Earth." Will China's ecocity be another Sputnik?   
      
   Now, decades after the space race began, we know that finding a way to live   
   with our precious global ecology in a renewable way is our greatest   
   challenge. Now is the time... for this nation to take a clearly leading role   
   in ecocity achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future of   
   Earth. Not only are ecocities that rely on closed-looped nutrient cycles,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)