Word: adjustables
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...what if homes could adjust to the ever changing environment, as humans do? People take off or put on clothes according to the weather or their activity; why shouldn't their homes? This is one of the design tenets of Glenn Murcutt, 66, this year's Pritzker prizewinner for architecture. His work is very specific: he builds modest structures; he builds only in his home country of Australia; and he refuses, despite its searing summer temperatures, to use air conditioning...
...very site-specific. The architect doesn't know the site just by sight; he studies the prevailing breezes, the water drainage and the flora and fauna of each proposed building spot. Then he uses what nature offers to create a comfortable home, albeit one the homeowner has to adjust periodically. For example, Murcutt's houses usually have a long, multilayered side facing north. Adjustable louvers, insect screens, moving glass panels and even thermal blinds can be opened to catch light and breezes or closed to retain warmth...
...other biomatter we extract from the earth each year exceeds what the planet can replace by an estimated 20%, meaning it takes 14.4 months to replenish what we use in 12--deficit spending of the worst kind. Sustainable development works to reverse that, to expand the resource base and adjust how we use it so we're living off biological interest without ever touching principal. "The old environmental movement had a reputation of elitism," says Mark Malloch Brown, administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). "The key now is to put people first and the environment second, but also...
...everyone is committed to getting the job done. "We are only at the beginning of what we can expect in the future," says Manfred Stock, deputy director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. "Many regions will see an increase in extreme weather, and we will have to adjust to massive changes in our living conditions." If that forecast proves right, then Europe's water wars may be only just beginning
...Washington's comparative isolation over going war in Iraq by playing hard for the middle ground. The Iraqi leader's speech reiterated offers to negotiate over arms inspections - albeit on his own terms, which so far remain unacceptable to the U.N. But the Iraqi leader knows he can always adjust his position later to comply with the international community's demands, simultaneously taking the wind out of Washington's sails. That may be why Vice President Dick Cheney hastened to warn Thursday that even a resumption of U.N. weapons inspections may not be enough to solve the big problem: Iraq...