Las Vegas (CNN) -- Most people know international
recording artist Will.i.am (born William James Adams Jr.) as the
producer and front man for The Black Eyed Peas, the Grammy-winning group
that has performed at the Super Bowl and sold more than 18 million
albums worldwide.
But Will.i.am is also a huge gamer and techie. When it comes to
technology, he's much more than just a gear head. He actually visits
NASA for rocket launches and works with nonprofits such as FIRST (For
Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to encourage kids
to build robots.
He also serves as Intel's director of creative innovation.
At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, Will.i.am
announced that he's doing a global tour with Intel to promote its new
Ultrabooks. Fans will be able to follow his journey as he visits 12
countries in 12 months recording music and filming his adventures. He
helped design the new willpower360 app, which allows viewers to
experience the Ultrabook Project from any angle.
And -- and! -- not only did Will.i.am help create one of the
top-selling music games this holiday season, Ubisoft's The Black Eyed
Peas Experience, he actually helped Microsoft design the Kinect for Xbox
360 technology that powers the dance game.
The man behind the games chatted with CNN about his love of video
games and tech at CES in Vegas. The following is an edited transcript of
that conversation:
CNN: What's a favorite memory of playing video games when you were young?
Will.i.am: We were poor. We couldn't afford video
games. So I would go to my friend Calvin and Douglas' house to play his
Nintendo or Markey's house to play the Atari 2600, Intellivision or
Colecovision. We'd always go to Markey's porch, and he used to have them
there. We had to pay 15 cents to play one of his games, whether it was
Pong or Combat. You remember Combat and having those graphics? Just
think about that. Wow!
CNN: What did you think of the music in those old-school games?
Will.i.am: I remember playing Donkey Kong and
Pac-Man and thinking, "Wow, who designed the audio for that?" Some guy
was like, "Oh, shucks. When Pac-Man eats the ghost should it be
booo-oomp!" I wonder what they were thinking when they made the audio.
CNN: Did game music influence you at all?
Will.i.am: I remember when Super Nintendo came and
then the graphics changed and that was a big leap because you saw Mario
from different angles. That was cool. I did a beat. I have a track where
I sampled that game. I have my hip-hop Mario underground music. That's
when he goes underground (in the game).
CNN: Did you play games as they got better over the years?
Will.i.am: Yeah. I remember Joust and then Q*BertC,
right with the graphics started getting better and then there was Pole
Position and Mike Tyson Punch-Out. That's when Nintendo started coming
in. I loved Duck Hunt. Do you remember Gyromite? What was that all
about? And then Zelda came out. That's when I was like it's all about
video games. Zelda. Did you save the princess yet? Did you get the
fairy? Where's the fairies at? Wow, that was like the dopest. And there
was that little pond that you had to go to get some more lives and
stuff. I loved that. I mean, that's my childhood from just video games.
CNN: What are you playing these days?
Will.i.am: My favorite game is Madden. That's it.
I'm a Madden addict. I go at it. I design my own teams. People online
always go, "I'm not playing you, you're a freaking cheater." And I'm
like, "What are you talking about? You can design your own team too. We
can just play with our own teams anyways."
CNN: Who's on your Madden team when you design them?
Will.i.am: Oh, I make names up like Little Whoop A**
or Little Speedy. I make a little short guy that runs really fast;
change his attributes and whatnot. I like big dudes, like 6-foot-2
quarterbacks. That's what I like doing. So that's why I play Madden.
CNN: Do you play any other games?
Will.i.am: I freaking love Grand Theft Auto. Don't
have me play that because I don't even do the missions. I just like to
see what I can do to make the cops come chase me and see if I can run
from them. But Madden's my favorite.
CNN: What was it like working on The Black Eyed Experience game?
Will.i.am: Two years ago, I would go up to Seattle
and consulted on Natal. That's what it was called before they coined it
Kinect. Project Natal. So I'd go up to Seattle and put in all the work,
when I finally saw the video game, I'm like, "Wow, that's what I was
consulting on?" And my group got the benefit off of all that flying back
and forth. I'd work with (Ubisoft) and say, "Oh, no, the dancing
shouldn't be like this. We should make it so once I sit down the avatar
shouldn't turn into a noodle. You got to fix it to like." And they'd
work on that. And I'm like, "OK, cool. Also, it should have some type of
gesture where the beat slows down and then the choreographer dance guy
instructor tells you what you're doing wrong. You should have it do
that. It should be real." And they'd work on that.
CNN: What impact have you seen your game have on fans?
Will.i.am: What I've noticed with BEP Experience was
it was the Christmas thing to do, it was the New Year's thing to do
when families got together. I read Tweets like, "Oh my gosh, I haven't
had that much fun with my daughter in years. I haven't had that much fun
with my wife in years. I haven't had that much fun with my brother for
years." When families come together and they're doing this Black Eyed
Peas experience with songs that they all know, it's great. It's a great
extension of the Peas. And it goes back to all the work I did going back
up to Seattle working on Code Natal, which is now Kinect. It's been a
great journey and I'm proud of the result.
CNN: What's your favorite piece of technology that you can't live without?
Will.i.am: Really I want to say my phone. I like my
phone because that's the thing, but really it's my laptop. I can Tweet
with my phone and I have all my addresses in it, but now it's backed up
to my computer. So if I lose my phone, I lose it. It has a code
(password) on it. Nobody's going to get into it. I just get a new phone
and download. It's really my laptop that I can't live without.
CNN: How do you use your laptop creatively today?
Will.i.am: I've been making music on desktops and
laptops for a long time now, so to use this Ultrabook, which is lighter
and offers better performance is great. I love DJing with it. I love
creating with it. If you imagine what it was like when Michael Jackson
was making music, we used to make music in studios and the music played
on the radio. Now you're making music on a computer and you listen to it
on the computer. So just the idea of that is amazing.
comment: I think that will.i.am is a very good singer thaat has exceeded himself, and I think that the Black Eyed Peas is a very good group. I think that it is good that Will.i.am is a solo singer, a group singer and a huge gamer techie. I think he is very smart and he can do a lot of different things. He has to dedicate a lot of time and effort to it. I think that it is good that he colaborate to produce the new ultrabooks and he also help to create one of the top selling music games this holiday season, Ubisoft`s The Black Eyed Peas Exerience for Xbox 360.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
50 beautiful places to visit in Korea As these spectacularly photographic spots show, if you've only been to Seoul, you're missing out big time
Jose Rodrigo Villalba 1ro B
50 beautiful places to visit in Korea
As these spectacularly photographic spots show, if you've only been to Seoul, you're missing out big time
Some 25 million South Koreans -- about half the population -- travel abroad at least once a year, but it’s safe to assume that most haven't seen all the beautiful sights within the country.
Seoul only takes up a mere 0.6 percent of South Korea's territory: here are 50 stunning photographs from the other 99.4 percent of the country that are all worth a visit.
Here are the flowery spring landscapes, sandy beaches, rocky mountains and quietly stunning historic sites on your new Korean travel bucket list. And just in case you were wondering, they are in no particular order. Feel free to add some suggestions of your own in the comment box at the end of the article.
1. Seongsan Sunrise Peak (성산일출봉)
Cue the cinematic music.
A UNESCO world heritage site, the peak is famous for many things, including numerous rare plant species, but is best known for the magnificent sight of the sun rising over it (hence the name).
The climb up the peak’s northwest side ridge (its other sides are steep cliffs) to the 180-meter highest point takes 30 minutes.
1 Seongsan-ri, Seongsan-eup, Seogwipo, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province (제주특별자치도 서귀포시 성산읍성산리 1번지)
More on CNNGo: How to visit Jeju Island on a dime
2. Ggotji Beach (꽃지 해수욕장)
Time to visit the grandparents.
Legend has it that the wife of a base commanding officer in the Shilla Dynasty became the Granny Rock when she died after waiting faithfully for her husband.
Seungeon 4 ri, Anmyeon-eup, Taean-gun, Chungcheongnam-do (충남 태안군 안면읍 승언4리)
3. Darangee Village (경상남도 남해 가천 다랭이마을)
What Korean kids did before video games.
Darangee Village, a small well-preserved village in the southernmost area of west Namhae-gun, features an extraordinary sight of countless tiny fields (over 100 levels) on a steep mountain slope against the open sea.
Honghyeon-ri, Nam-myeon, Namhae-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do (경남 남해군 남면 홍현리)
4. Gwang-An Bridge (부산 광안대교)
Korea loves its stunning, futuristic bridges.
Also known as the Diamond Bridge, this two-story bridge connects Suyeong-gu and Haeundae-gu and offers an astonishing view of mountains, sandy beaches, hills and city lights.
Kwang-An Bridge is not for pedestrians, but anyone can enjoy the spectacular night view of the bridge from afar; its state-of-the-art lighting system allows an exterior lighting of over 100,000 colors.
Suyeong-gu, Busan (부산광역시 수영구)
5. Kyeong-Wha Station, Jinhae (진해 경화역)
All this scene needs is a soldier and a beautiful girl waiting for him at the station.
This small whistle-stop bustles with tourists and amateur photographers every spring.
Cherry blossoms rain down on the train track and countless shutters click madly away as the train approaches the station under the cherry blossom tunnel.
The cherry blossom road at Yeojwa stream, (number 17 on this list) is also nearby for those who want more photo-ops.
Kyeongwha-dong, Jinhae-gu, Gyeongsangnam-do (경남 창원시 진해구 경화동)
6. Upo Marsh (우포늪)
Swimming is probably not recommended.
At 2,314 kilometers squared, Upo Marsh is the largest inland wetland in Korea and thrice the size of Yeouido. Formed over 140 million years ago, the marsh is home to 1,500 plants and animals, some of which are endangered species.
Visitors can bike or walk around this beautiful natural swamp, where migratory birds are known for flying low.
Daedae-ri, Yueo-myeon, Changnyeong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do (경남 창녕군 유어면 대대리)
7. Jeungdo Salt Farm (전남 신안 증도 염전)
Salt farming in a slow city.
This treasure island (artifacts from the Song Dynasty have actually been found at the bottom of the sea) is famous for its clear seawater, soft beach, and salt farms.
The magical sight of huge salt farms is not the only spectacle that can be found here; the mud flat leisure town allows tourists to experience and observe the marine life of the mud flat.
Jeungdo-myeon, Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do (전남 신안군 증도면)
8. Gongryong Ridge, Seorak Mountain (설악산 신선대 공룡능선)
From this distance, it looks like a Stegosaurus, but we can't be sure.
Physical fitness and mountain climbing experience are prerequisites to viewing these curious peaks in the Seorak mountain range.
Thought to be shaped like the spine of a dinosaur (hence the name, "Dinosaur Ridge"), this rocky ridge offers spectacular views of both inner and outer Seorak.
The climb is no picnic: the peak elevation of Gongryong Ridge, the most popular ridge route in the range, is approximately 1,200 meters.
Goseong-gun/Yangyang-gun/Inje-gun, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do (강원도 속초시 고성군, 양양군, 인제군)
9. Uleung Island Seaside Road (울릉도 해안도로)
Uleung Island was known as Dagelet to Europeans.
Uleung Island, nicknamed "Mysterious Island", is a popular weekend getaway spot for Seoulites.
Curious rock formations, shore cliffs and numerous waterfalls adorn the island’s Seaside Road.
Anyone planning to walk or bike their way around Uleung Island should make sure they set aside enough time, as they will inevitably stop countless times to admire the glorious view.
Uleung-eup, Uleung-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do (경북 울릉군 울릉읍)
10. Seopjikoji, Jeju Island (제주도 섭지코지)
A music video just waiting to be shot.
First-time visitors to Jeju island need to plan their trip wisely, as the Jeju bucket list is long and varied. One of the musts on the list is Seopjikoji, a promontory on the coast famous for its serenity and romance.
Yellow rape blossoms fill the field in the spring, creating a colorful contrast with the red soil and cerulean sky.
The best photographs of Sungsan Sunrise Peak (the first item on this list) can be taken here at Seopjikoji.
The scenery of Seopjikoji has also been captured by several Korean films and dramas, including "All In," one of the first Hallyu dramas starring Lee Byung-hun and Song Hye-kyo.
my opinión
i think that is bery cool all this landscape, and is very nise that all this peaple asiatic care all this landscape
the best landscape is the number 9. uleung island seaside road that is in Corea it is bery beautiful and the lake color green with the stairs color broun and with the form of spiral, is the best landscape of this photos.
it is a popular weekend getawey spot for seulite. the misterious rocks too adorn the island.
Wikipedia, other websites back after anti-piracy bill protest
(CNN)Wikipedia was back Thursday, a day after shutting down the website to protest anti-piracy bills now in Congress.
On the website early Thursday morning was the cryptic message: "Thank you for protecting Wikipedia. We're not done yet."
Clicking on that message takes a Wikipedia viewer to a thank you letter and instructions on how to continue fighting against anti-piracy bills that critics say could amount to censorship.
"Your voice was loud and strong," the message said. "Millions of people have spoken in defense of a free and open Internet."
Wikipedia was among several websites to shut down Wednesday in protest of the bills.
Instead of the usual encyclopedia articles, visitors to Wikipedia's English-language site were greeted by a message about the decision to black out its Web page for an entire day.
However, users were able to access Wikipedia on some smartphones.
The site and several others went dark at midnight Tuesday; others followed suit later in the day.
The protest is in response to the Stop Online Piracy Act bill, a piece of proposed legislation that is working its way through the Congress. A Senate committee approved a similar bill in May called the Protect IP Act, which is now pending before the full Senate.
The controversy over SOPA and PIPA has turned into an all-out war between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Media companies have united in favor of the bills, while tech's power players are throwing their might into opposing them.
"Both SOPA and PIPA are threats not just to the U.S. economy, and not just to all the jobs that this tech sector creates, but if they had existed, Steve Huffman and I could have never founded Reddit," said Alexis Ohanian, who co-founded the site. Millions visit Reddit to submit interesting links from websites, discuss them and vote on them, he said, calling it "sort of a democratic front page of the web." Reddit also went dark Wednesday morning and was back Thursday.
One member of Congress, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, who opposes the bills, said the unprecedented blackouts had "turned the tide against a backroom lobbying effort by interests that aren't used to being told no."
Issa is pushing for consideration of his own plan, the OPEN act, addressing the matter.
On the website early Thursday morning was the cryptic message: "Thank you for protecting Wikipedia. We're not done yet."
Clicking on that message takes a Wikipedia viewer to a thank you letter and instructions on how to continue fighting against anti-piracy bills that critics say could amount to censorship.
"Your voice was loud and strong," the message said. "Millions of people have spoken in defense of a free and open Internet."
Wikipedia was among several websites to shut down Wednesday in protest of the bills.
Instead of the usual encyclopedia articles, visitors to Wikipedia's English-language site were greeted by a message about the decision to black out its Web page for an entire day.
However, users were able to access Wikipedia on some smartphones.
The site and several others went dark at midnight Tuesday; others followed suit later in the day.
The protest is in response to the Stop Online Piracy Act bill, a piece of proposed legislation that is working its way through the Congress. A Senate committee approved a similar bill in May called the Protect IP Act, which is now pending before the full Senate.
The controversy over SOPA and PIPA has turned into an all-out war between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Media companies have united in favor of the bills, while tech's power players are throwing their might into opposing them.
"Both SOPA and PIPA are threats not just to the U.S. economy, and not just to all the jobs that this tech sector creates, but if they had existed, Steve Huffman and I could have never founded Reddit," said Alexis Ohanian, who co-founded the site. Millions visit Reddit to submit interesting links from websites, discuss them and vote on them, he said, calling it "sort of a democratic front page of the web." Reddit also went dark Wednesday morning and was back Thursday.
One member of Congress, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, who opposes the bills, said the unprecedented blackouts had "turned the tide against a backroom lobbying effort by interests that aren't used to being told no."
Issa is pushing for consideration of his own plan, the OPEN act, addressing the matter.
Commentary:
I think that is good that Wikipedia is back because sometimes this website, and others that also are going to close help us in things like works and knowledge.
Comment: I think that is a good idea of "apple" to make the education school on an Ipad tab, because its very portable and usefull.
(CNN) -- Apple on Thursday lifted the veil on its plans to remake the educational landscape in a way that centers on its best-selling tablet computer, the iPad.
(CNN) -- Apple on Thursday lifted the veil on its plans to remake the educational landscape in a way that centers on its best-selling tablet computer, the iPad.
"Education is deep in Apple's DNA and iPad may be our most exciting education product yet," Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of marketing, said in a statement.
At a press conference in New York, the company announced three products that aim to get students and teachers to use the iPad's touch-screen interface to read, write, plan classes and communicate with each other.
First, a free app called iBooks Author lets anyone create a digital, interactive textbook.
In a demo at the event, an Apple employee created an e-book with the app in about five minutes, according to live blogs.
Second, an update to a piece of software called iTunes U lets teachers plan their curriculum and communicate with their students over the iPad.
The new iTunes U, which also is free and available on Thursday, will "allow anyone, anywhere, at any time to take courses for free," Schiller said, according to Fortune.com's Philip Elmer-DeWitt, who was live blogging from the event. Fortune is a partner site of CNN.com.
"If you're an educator at a university, college, or K-12 school, now you have an easy way to design and distribute complete courses featuring audio, video, books, and other content," Apple's website said Thursday. "And students and lifelong learners can experience your courses for free through a powerful new app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch."
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Lybian children pay high price for curiosity over weapons.
Nine-year-old Mahmood Ahmed was playing near his home in Zintan, western Libya, when he found a green object he had never seen before.
He wanted to know what was inside, so took it into his backyard and began hitting it with a stone.
The object was a bullet from an anti-aircraft machine gun and it exploded, taking off his left hand. He is now getting used to life with a plastic hand.
Mahmood is one of the accidental child victims of the war that toppled Colonel Moammar Gadhafi in August and he is far from alone.
The International charity Mines Advisory Group (MAG), which highlighted his case, has recorded 90 casualties -- mostly children -- from similar accidents involving mines and unexploded ordinance left over from the war in the region of Zintan and Misrata alone this year.
I think that the kid was inresponsable by tuoching the weapon. He shoudent be able to touch one of them.
Nine-year-old Mahmood Ahmed was playing near his home in Zintan, western Libya, when he found a green object he had never seen before.
He wanted to know what was inside, so took it into his backyard and began hitting it with a stone.
The object was a bullet from an anti-aircraft machine gun and it exploded, taking off his left hand. He is now getting used to life with a plastic hand.
Mahmood is one of the accidental child victims of the war that toppled Colonel Moammar Gadhafi in August and he is far from alone.
The International charity Mines Advisory Group (MAG), which highlighted his case, has recorded 90 casualties -- mostly children -- from similar accidents involving mines and unexploded ordinance left over from the war in the region of Zintan and Misrata alone this year.
I think that the kid was inresponsable by tuoching the weapon. He shoudent be able to touch one of them.
ihpone is a famili of smart phones with conextion tu internet.The iPhone 4S is a touchscreen slate smartphone developed by Apple Inc. It is the sixth generation of the iPhone, a device that combines a 3.5 inch (89 mm) touchscreen iPod, mobile phone, and internet client. It retains the exterior design of its predecessor, the iPhone 4, but is host to a range of improved hardware specifications and software updatesThe iPhone 4S was unveiled at Apple's "Let's Talk iPhone" event on October 4, 2011 in Cupertino, California. Apple started taking pre-orders for the iPhone 4S on October 7, 2011 in seven initial countries (United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan) with the first delivery date set for October 14, 2011, and available on that same day for direct store sales in those countries. It was released in 22 more European, American and Asian countries, including Ireland, Mexico and Singapore on October 28.
comment: i think that te i phone 4s is the best celphone becouse it have alot of more tecnology and alot of people buy them becouse one of the caracteristics of it is that the celphone can talkj to you and the celphon recomend you places to go an it tell where are the plases.
Can we afford eco-cities?
Durban, South Africa (CNN) -- Making cities greener "actually makes a lot of sense" in spite of the economic crisis, says former Irish President, Mary Robinson.
"You save money," she said, adding that the real challenge is greening cities in poorer nations, like Bangladesh, where people live in "almost impossible conditions."
Robinson was one of four leading climate change thinkers discussing how viable it is to invest in sustainable cities in a debate hosted by CNN's Robyn Curnow during the 2011 U.N. Conference on Climate Change last week in Durban.
Joining Robinson on the panel were Pan Jiahua, advisor to the Chinese delegation at the conference, Elliot Diringer, former adviser to the Bill Clinton's U.S. presidential administration and Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International.
Below is an edited version of the debate.
CNN: Why would people now, especially in the current economic climate, think they need to go green?
Mary Robinson: Well, actually, it makes an awful lot of sense. If you make your home more efficient, you save money. Here in Durban, there is an exhibition of how to make buildings greener, how to make transport greener, and that is the way we have to go.
But we have to recognize that our biggest growth in cities will be in poor developing countries -- I was in Dakar recently, in Bangladesh, and saw people living in almost impossible conditions and that is the real challenge.
Could big cities lead the fight against climate change?
CNN: China has seen a twenty-fold increase in the number of cars over the past decade and expects energy consumption to double by 2030. What is the country doing to ensure that growth is green?
Pan Jiahua: That is one part of the story -- the other part of the story is that we have consensus. We are very much aware of the challenges and that is why we have been so aggressive and that is why we have to (explore) nuclear and that is why we have to set a very challenging target by 2015 and 2020 for renewable energy development.
CNN: Do you think China is doing enough?
Kumi Naidoo: China had made an assessment that not only is it right to invest in green technologies because of climate change, but in fact that it was actually good for the economy. Because countries that are going to dominate the future economy -- you can forget about the arms race and the space race -- the only countries that are going to do well in the future are those that win the green race.
CNN: You were part of the team that helped negotiate the Kyoto protocol -- are you disappointed about the state of where things are now?
Elliot Diringer: I am disappointed about the lack of action in the United States, the lack of action in other countries, the lack of progress at the international level.
But we have to learn the lessons of the last 15 years since Kyoto was negotiated -- we have been going in circles for 15 years now insisting on binding commitments. Unfortunately, the United States and others aren't ready for that. We can't abandon that goal but we can't keep beating ourselves up year after year expecting it now.
Kumi Naidoo: I agree with that but let's just be honest -- what's on the table at the moment is lacking in ambition, lacking in urgency. We have to be honest with the people in all the world and say that in fact we are failing you, we are sleepwalking the planet into a crisis of epic proportions.
CNN: What are for you the greenest cities? What's the model to aspire to?
Mary Robinson: There are very good Scandinavian models. I would like to see the implementation of what I heard yesterday -- that solar can be cheaper than kerosene for poor communities.
I want green slum areas -- around most cities in the developing world you have these informal settlements and slum areas and that is where the real challenge is and that is where affordable and clean energy can transform those areas.
Cities blazing a green trail
Kumi Naidoo: Cities have to look, from top down, how they are using energy, where they actually locate offices, what transportation distances people have to travel to work, what kind of transportation they have to travel (in). In fact our quality of life in cities in the main is going down and down.
All countries have to begin to ask ourselves, what kind of society and consumption patterns gives us happiness, contentment and prosperity and I have to say that there is a lot of meaningless consumption that is contributing to this problem and we have to challenge what we consume.
Pan Jiahua: In this regard, China is more advanced. Over two-thirds of ... (our) cities ... have low-carbon city planning, and we have very clear targets within these cities to reduce energy consumption, to reduce their carbon emissions and not only from the production side but from the consumer side. And we are going to change our behaviors. You are talking about the increase in car ownership, well now the Chinese are coming back to bicycles. I think we are moving in the right direction and we need to accelerate the process.
Elliot Diringer: I think we need cities that offer people green choices. It is difficult to mandate changes in people's behavior and lifestyle but you need to offer people the right choices and they will take them. So, mass transit that is convenient; charging stations so you can have plug in electric vehicles and know that you can recharge them; car sharing arrangements; bicycle sharing arrangements.
Comment:
I think these people is right we need to do green choices. We need to know how to use energy. As Kumi said, the planet is going down into an ecologic crisis. We must change that. Like in Cina a lot of people is actually riding bikes instead of cars. If cities we greener, the world would be better. Every country have to see how they are using energy, if they are using it the right way or not. There should be electric cars, because the smoke of the cars is affecting the planet. We should use solar energy. We need ecologic cities. Cities must have more green areas like parks. We have to protect the nature.
Jose Gonzalez
"You save money," she said, adding that the real challenge is greening cities in poorer nations, like Bangladesh, where people live in "almost impossible conditions."
Robinson was one of four leading climate change thinkers discussing how viable it is to invest in sustainable cities in a debate hosted by CNN's Robyn Curnow during the 2011 U.N. Conference on Climate Change last week in Durban.
Joining Robinson on the panel were Pan Jiahua, advisor to the Chinese delegation at the conference, Elliot Diringer, former adviser to the Bill Clinton's U.S. presidential administration and Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International.
Below is an edited version of the debate.
CNN: Why would people now, especially in the current economic climate, think they need to go green?
Mary Robinson: Well, actually, it makes an awful lot of sense. If you make your home more efficient, you save money. Here in Durban, there is an exhibition of how to make buildings greener, how to make transport greener, and that is the way we have to go.
But we have to recognize that our biggest growth in cities will be in poor developing countries -- I was in Dakar recently, in Bangladesh, and saw people living in almost impossible conditions and that is the real challenge.
Could big cities lead the fight against climate change?
CNN: China has seen a twenty-fold increase in the number of cars over the past decade and expects energy consumption to double by 2030. What is the country doing to ensure that growth is green?
Pan Jiahua: That is one part of the story -- the other part of the story is that we have consensus. We are very much aware of the challenges and that is why we have been so aggressive and that is why we have to (explore) nuclear and that is why we have to set a very challenging target by 2015 and 2020 for renewable energy development.
CNN: Do you think China is doing enough?
The only countries that are going to do well in the future are those that win the green race.
Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International
Kumi Naidoo, executive director of Greenpeace International
CNN: You were part of the team that helped negotiate the Kyoto protocol -- are you disappointed about the state of where things are now?
Elliot Diringer: I am disappointed about the lack of action in the United States, the lack of action in other countries, the lack of progress at the international level.
But we have to learn the lessons of the last 15 years since Kyoto was negotiated -- we have been going in circles for 15 years now insisting on binding commitments. Unfortunately, the United States and others aren't ready for that. We can't abandon that goal but we can't keep beating ourselves up year after year expecting it now.
Kumi Naidoo: I agree with that but let's just be honest -- what's on the table at the moment is lacking in ambition, lacking in urgency. We have to be honest with the people in all the world and say that in fact we are failing you, we are sleepwalking the planet into a crisis of epic proportions.
CNN: What are for you the greenest cities? What's the model to aspire to?
Mary Robinson: There are very good Scandinavian models. I would like to see the implementation of what I heard yesterday -- that solar can be cheaper than kerosene for poor communities.
I want green slum areas -- around most cities in the developing world you have these informal settlements and slum areas and that is where the real challenge is and that is where affordable and clean energy can transform those areas.
Cities blazing a green trail
Kumi Naidoo: Cities have to look, from top down, how they are using energy, where they actually locate offices, what transportation distances people have to travel to work, what kind of transportation they have to travel (in). In fact our quality of life in cities in the main is going down and down.
All countries have to begin to ask ourselves, what kind of society and consumption patterns gives us happiness, contentment and prosperity and I have to say that there is a lot of meaningless consumption that is contributing to this problem and we have to challenge what we consume.
You need to offer people the right choices and they will take them.
Elliot Diringer, former advisor to the Clinton administration
Elliot Diringer, former advisor to the Clinton administration
Elliot Diringer: I think we need cities that offer people green choices. It is difficult to mandate changes in people's behavior and lifestyle but you need to offer people the right choices and they will take them. So, mass transit that is convenient; charging stations so you can have plug in electric vehicles and know that you can recharge them; car sharing arrangements; bicycle sharing arrangements.
Comment:
I think these people is right we need to do green choices. We need to know how to use energy. As Kumi said, the planet is going down into an ecologic crisis. We must change that. Like in Cina a lot of people is actually riding bikes instead of cars. If cities we greener, the world would be better. Every country have to see how they are using energy, if they are using it the right way or not. There should be electric cars, because the smoke of the cars is affecting the planet. We should use solar energy. We need ecologic cities. Cities must have more green areas like parks. We have to protect the nature.
Jose Gonzalez
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