The Green Wrap-up 21.January, 2012

During his Inauguration 2013 address Monday, President Obama made a case for clean-energy innovation and curbing climate change. His Inauguration 2013 speech recalled the views on the environment and energy policy that the president espoused in his first inaugural address.
One to One was the largest work at the International Exhibition at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale. A full-scale rebuild of part of Anupama Kundoo’s Wall House, it extended Dr. Kundoo’s experimental work on sustainable living and tested how local craft traditions can be reinterpreted in new architectural contexts. One to One was built by a cross-cultural team, which included a team from the University of Queensland, Indian craftspeople and Italian builders.
NASA has been monitoring nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels across the Middle-East and a portion of Asia with the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on its Aura satellite, and it doesn’t look good right now.
Ever since the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan has been looking for new sources of energy to replace its nuclear reactors. This is no easy task, not only because nuclear power provided a significant fraction of the country’s electricity, but also because if you just replace nuclear by fossil fuel power plants, you are trading one problem for another. Clean energy is the ideal substitute despite many challenges, but Japan is forging ahead!
Many factories and chemical plants have suspended production in Beijing in an attempt to curb dangerous pollution, according to the South China Morning Post. The air pollution is some of the worst the city has seen in years, with harmful PM2.5 particle rates hovering between 200 and 400 micrograms per cubic meter.
Chipotle Mexican Grill, a fast-food chain that prides itself on using natural ingredients (and serves more naturally-raised meat than any other chain), has announced that they’re rolling out a shredded tofu option in San Francisco next month.
  • GreenJoyment(Ally): This is a nice idea, and as a vegetarian I always appreciate it when restaurants offer vegetarian options. However, I’d like to see more deviation from the tofu-as-default mindset. There are many concerns surrounding soy, from deforestation related to soy production to a growing prevalence of soy allergies. I would be really thrilled if Chipotle came out with a new, inventive vegetarian option!
President Barack Obama pledged to modernize the government fleet, and he has done just that…though many of these new, fuel-efficient cars aren’t American. In fact, 54% of the Obama Administration’s fleet of alternatively fueled vehicles come from Asian brands.

Members of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) look over some bicycles for lending to commuters along a bicycle lane between Ayala Avenue and Magallanes in Makati City on Monday. The MMDA recently launched the first bicycle lane along EDSA between the Ayala and Magallanes Metro Rail Transit stations.
While its a system that’s far from perfect, I’m very happy that this is starting to happen within my own country. I haven’t seen this yet, since I live so far away from it, but when I get a chance, I’m going to visit it, and hopefully take pictures. – JM Ruiz

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