Word: kyoto
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...Dior haute couture show in Paris was so spectacular. The designer, who seemed to have been languishing lately under directives to create salable clothes, let his wacky imagination soar again--this time from the couture ateliers of Paris all the way to the cherry-blossom-filled gardens of Kyoto. One after another, models in geisha makeup and with orchids and ikebana arrangements caught up in their hair emerged in glorious confections that recalled hand-painted kimonos, origami folds and even the bark of a bonsai tree. Backstage, the designer described the show as Christian Dior meeting Puccini's Madama Butterfly...
...TIME: Not everyone recognizes the challenge of climate change - the U.S. has never ratified Kyoto...
Across the country, carbon emissions have actually grown more than 8% since 1990, a pattern reflected in Kyoto itself, where the number of cars increased from 1.3 million in 1990 to 2 million in 2002. The nation as a whole will need to slash emissions about 14% to achieve its targets. Which raises the obvious question: If ultra-efficient Japan can't wean itself from the carbon habit, what hope does the rest of the world have...
Mindful of Kyoto, the government has lately shifted the focus to cutting greenhouse gases. That gave birth to the Cool Biz policy in 2005, under which offices save energy by keeping summer temperatures at a stifling 82.4°F (28°C). To beat the heat, salarymen are told to doff their black suits in favor of light colors and open collars. The result made the Prime Minister occasionally look as if he were addressing parliament from a beach in Waikiki, but at least Cool Biz had more style than a similar Japanese idea from the 1970s: the short-sleeved business...
Such changes are happening all over the world, frustrating the best efforts on climate change. Japan shows that to meet even the modest goals of Kyoto, "we might need to do something as extreme as 'no-car day' or 'no-air-conditioning day' once a week," says Koichi Iwama, an economics professor at Wako University who specializes in energy policy. Selling such ideas won't take the kind of miracle you'd pray for in a Kyoto temple, but it won't be easy either...