THE NEED TO ADDRESS the environmental problems caused by industrialization has long been overdue. In the case of the Philippines, buildings are estimated to account for 40 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, a major culprit behind the climate change that everyone is witnessing.

Nonetheless, it is still better to be late in delivering solutions to this pressing problem than not do anything at all. “Environmental sustainability is not only a concern for the Americans or the Europeans. It is also an issue that developing countries like the Philippines should face,” Christopher dela Cruz, chair of the Philippine Green Building Council, said in a briefing held last week.

Green ratings

PGBC (a private-sector group advocating for environmental awareness among the country’s construction, architecture, and related industries) is pushing for the adoption of a “Green Ratings System.” Under the system, the environmental sustainability of buildings will be evaluated based on a set of criteria.

Dela Cruz said it would be a prudent move for the government to adopt and implement this system in regulating building construction and maintenance.

However, in the meantime that the government has not yet stepped in, he said PGBC was preparing to establish the system and promote environmental sustainability to concerned industries.

He said PGBC plans to have the system implemented by the end of the year. Developers with a good “green rating” may use this fact to advertise itself among clients.

The objective of PGBC is for the public to prefer dealing with companies with a seal of environmental friendliness, Dela Cruz said.

He said the Philippines may use the model adopted by the Singaporean government. In 2005, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore adopted the Green Ratings System for evaluating buildings in the city state.

There are many ways for a building to become environmentally friendly. One is to use energy- and water-efficient systems. For instance, developers may opt to use elevators and escalators that require less electricity.

Premium cost

Another is to have an architectural design that allows the use of natural ventilation, especially during colder months. Still, developers can design buildings in such a way that these attract solar energy that may serve the power needs of the buildings.

Going “green,” however, entails cost. Equipment that are energy efficient, for instance, are more expensive than regular ones. Dela Cruz says the government may help promote environmental friendliness among industries if it could give incentives, say tax perks, to developers that will go green.

There is no longer a debate on whether industries should prioritize ecological over economic needs.

He said all economic benefits will be for naught if the environment is no longer healthy enough to support decent human existence.

“The debate on eco vs. eco (economy versus ecology) has already died down. They must be seen not as two opposing ideas, but as things that should justify each other,” Dela Cruz said.

In the case of Singapore, BCA has allotted S$100 million for
developers and building operators that intend to make their buildings environmentally friendly. With the fund, the Singaporean government is able to shoulder 35 percent of the cost of making buildings green.

Ang Kian Seng, deputy director at Singapore’s BCA, said that as of end-2008, 120 buildings in Singapore have been assessed as environmentally friendly. These comprise 4 to 5 percent of the total number of buildings in Singapore, Seng said.

Sustainability

BCA’s goal is to increase the number to 80 percent by 2030, Seng added.

“Previously, BCA was only focused on safety and quality in evaluating buildings. Now, we also focus on environmental sustainability and friendliness of buildings,” said the Singaporean government official, who visited Manila to help promote environmental awareness.

BCA, together with exhibit organizer BEX Asia, is spearheading an exhibit that will showcase architectural designs, construction materials, and building equipment that are environmentally friendly. Seng said the event, to be held in October in Singapore, will be participated in by exhibitors from different countries.

The Philippines is not a participant, but Seng said the country was encouraged to join the next exhibit.

Dela Cruz said PGBC will continue campaigning for environmental awareness among industry players in the Philippines.

Currently, he said, the Top 10 developers in the Philippines have signified commitment to observe environmental friendliness in their future projects and undergo the Green Ratings assessment as soon as the system becomes available.

“The only way to move forward is for people to group together to have a ratings system,” Dela Cruz said.

He said having a Green Rating system was one major step toward making industries in the Philippines aware of the urgent need to become environmentally friendly.

“Becoming environmentally friendly must have been done yesterday. We are now at the last minute of the last hour to adopt environmentally sustainable ways to do business,” Dela Cruz said. By Michelle Remo, Philippine Daily Inquirer

Actress Jenny McCarthy has revealed that she still sticks to some of the dieting techniques that helped her lose 60 pounds of baby weight more than six years ago.

The comic star had joined her local Weight Watchers after having son Evan in 2002.

“I still kind of count points in my head,” Us magazine quoted her as saying.

She insists that eating right food is the key to maintaining a good physique.

She said: “Working out tightens you up and helps burn calories, but what you put in your mouth makes all the difference.”

McCarthey who suffered from 60 food allergies had switched to a diet free of wheat, dairy and sugar apart from avoiding meat and sustained on fresh fruits and veggies.

In fact, she has influenced her actor husband Jim Carrey, who has sworn off wheat and dairy, and takes an active role in cultivating natural ingredients. She added: “We just planted our own organic garden in the backyard, and we love it!” (ANI)

American military commanders with the NATO mission in Afghanistan told President Obama’s chief envoy to the region this weekend that they did not have enough troops to do their job, pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operate across borders.

The commanders emphasized problems in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents continue to bombard towns and villages with rockets despite a new influx of American troops, and in eastern Afghanistan, where the father-and-son-led Haqqani network of militants has become the main source of attacks against American troops and their Afghan allies.

The possibility that more troops will be needed in Afghanistan presents the Obama administration with another problem in dealing with a nearly eight-year war that has lost popularity at home, compounded by new questions over the credibility of the Afghan government, which has just held an as-yet inconclusive presidential election beset by complaints of fraud.

The assessments come as the top American commander in the country, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, has been working to complete a major war strategy review, and as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, described a worsening situation in Afghanistan despite the recent addition of 17,000 American troops ordered by the Obama administration and the extra security efforts surrounding the presidential election.

“I think it is serious and it is deteriorating,” Admiral Mullen said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “The Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated, in their tactics.” He added that General McChrystal was still completing his review and had not yet requested additional troops on top of the those added by Mr. Obama.

The American commanders in Afghanistan spoke this weekend with Richard C. Holbrooke, Mr. Obama’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Over the past two days, Mr. Holbrooke visited all four regional command centers in Afghanistan, and the message from all four followed similar lines: while the additional American troops, along with smaller increases from other NATO members, have had some benefit in the south, the numbers remain below what commanders need. The total number of American soldiers and Marines in Afghanistan is now about 57,000. It was unclear whether the commanders told Mr. Holbrooke exactly how many additional troops might be required.

Eastern Afghanistan, in particular, has been a trouble spot. On Sunday, during Mr. Holbrooke’s stop at the Bagram military base, Maj. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of the United States and NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan, told him and visiting reporters that the Haqqani network was expanding its reach. “We’ve seen that expansion, and that’s part of what we’re fighting,” he said. American commanders believe that the network, whose leaders Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin have been linked to Al Qaeda, are using sanctuaries in Pakistan to launch attacks against American and Afghan forces.

The problems in Afghanistan have been aggravated by what the American commanders call the Pakistani military’s limited response to the threat of militants based there. Although General Scaparrotti said that cooperation by Pakistan and the United States against the militants had improved recently, he stressed that it was important for the Pakistanis to keep up the pressure, particularly after the reported killing of the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud.

That echoed concerns from Obama administration officials who worry that with the absence of Mr. Mehsud, who was the Pakistani government’s enemy No. 1, the military would shift its emphasis away from the tribal areas where the Taliban and Al Qaeda operate. “They think it’s ‘game over
,’ ” one senior administration official said. “It’s more like, ‘game over, next level.’ ”

The White House has been concerned about declining support for the war among the American public. After recent polls illustrating the decline, Admiral Mullen and Karl W. Eikenberry, a retired general who is the ambassador to Afghanistan, went on Sunday talk shows to discuss the direction of the mission.

“I’m certainly aware of the criticality of support of the American people for this war and in fact, any war,” Admiral Mullen said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And so certainly the numbers are of concern. That said, the president’s given me and the American military a mission, and that focuses on a new strategy, new leadership, and we’re moving very much in that direction.”

He said, “I believe we’ve got to start to turn this thing around from a security standpoint in the next 12 to 18 months.”

Mr. Holbrooke visited regional command centers in Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif and Bagram on Saturday and Sunday. Speaking to Afghan reporters at the NATO base in Mazar-i-Sharif, Mr. Holbrooke said that part of the new strategy would include reaching out to members of the Taliban who show a willingness to lay down their arms. Many Taliban fighters, Mr. Holbrooke said, “fight because they’re misguided, or because they want a job.”

“Anyone who renounces Al Qaeda and comes back to work peacefully in the Afghan system,” he continued, “will be welcome.”

American lawmakers intensified their criticism of President Hamid Karzai, saying his government had not done enough to crack down on corruption and the drug trade that fuels the insurgency. Senator Robert P. Casey Jr., Democrat of Pennsylvania, told reporters at a dinner on Sunday at the American Embassy in Kabul that he had told Mr. Karzai, “There’s going to come a time when the patience of Americans will run out.” Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, who was also at the dinner, said: “Time is not running out next week, but they have to show results. It’s the last chance.”

Concerns about fraud in the election have brought more complaints to Afghan officials. Mr. Karzai’s main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, told a news conference in Kabul on Sunday that the number of suspected irregularities had been “alarming.”

Afghanistan’s Election Complaints Commission said Sunday that it had made a priority of investigating 35 complaints, including allegations of ballot stuffing, voter intimidation and violence. The commission, jointly led by Western and Afghan officials, said it had received 225 complaints of irregularities. By Helene Cooper, New York Times.

Michael Jackson’s death was a homicide caused primarily by the powerful anesthetic propofol and another sedative, the coroner announced Friday in a highly anticipated ruling increasing the likelihood of criminal charges against the pop star’s doctor.

The Los Angeles County coroner’s office determined the cause of death was ”acute propofol intoxication.” Lorazepam, another sedative sold under the brand name Ativan, contributed to the death.

Additional drugs detected in Jackson’s system were the sedatives midazolam and diazepam, the painkiller lidocaine and the stimulant ephedrine.

The coroner did not release Jackson’s full autopsy report, citing a security hold requested by Los Angeles authorities investigating the case, and declined to comment beyond a short statement announcing the manner and cause of death.

The coroner’s determination of a homicide confirmed what the Associated Press reported Monday, citing an anonymous law-enforcement official.

The 50-year-old Jackson died June 25 at his rented Los Angeles mansion. Dr. Conrad Murray, the Las Vegas cardiologist who was the pop star’s personal physician, told police he gave Jackson propofol that morning after a series of sedatives failed to help Jackson sleep.

Murray has not been charged with any crime but is the target of what police term a manslaughter investigation. Multiple search warrants served at his home and businesses in Las Vegas and Houston sought evidence detailing how he procured the propofol that killed Jackson. Jackson’s interactions with at least six other doctors also are being scrutinized.

In addition, California Attorney General Jerry Brown has opened an independent probe of several physicians.

Except for a brief video posted to YouTube earlier this month, Murray has not spoken publicly since Jackson’s death. In the video, he said: ”I told the truth and I have faith the truth will prevail.”

Murray’s attorney, Edward Chernoff, said he was disappointed the full autopsy report wasn’t released. Without that, it was impossible to seek independent expert opinion on the significance of the various drugs detected.

”Release the toxicology report, the whole thing. Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” Chernoff said. ”This smells like gamesmanship.”

Chernoff repeated his assertion that nothing Murray gave Jackson ”should have” killed him. By Thomas Watkins and Justin Pritchard, Associated Press.

He uses aliases, has more than one ID card, and only his parents and two sisters know what he does for a living. “Like a thief, I work in the dark,” said GS, a humanitarian aid coordinator for a foreign NGO which is assisting orphans. “I live in fear for offering help – what an irony.”

Foreign and local humanitarian aid workers in strife-torn Iraq face constant danger from militant groups whose targets include Western agencies and their local staff. The latter are deemed an extension of the US-led forces by some extremists.

Foreign aid groups flocked to the country after the 2003 US-led invasion and thousands of local NGOs were established. However, the subsequent violence forced many to pull out or keep a low profile, and they have increasingly switched from direct implementation of programmes to a form of remote oversight from neighbouring countries or the relatively peaceful north.

This has led to serious inefficiencies and inadequate operational capacity on the ground, according to a report, ‘More Challenges Ahead for a Fractured Humanitarian Enterprise’, by the US-based the Feinstein International Center early this year.

“We used to have eight offices scattered nationwide, with the main office in Baghdad, but since early 2005 all offices have been closed and international staff have been relocated to Jordan; international staff depend on locals on the ground who work from home,” GS said.

“The deteriorated security situation from 2005 to 2007 made it impossible to reach all those who needed our help; our work was limited to some parts of Baghdad and some relatively peaceful cities outside it,” he added.

During this period, GS and his colleagues in Baghdad and the provinces, sometimes relied on local tribal leaders, government officials or community dignitaries to reach beneficiaries.

Attacks

Local and foreign humanitarian organizations were attacked by militants – with assassinations, kidnappings, bombs and car bombs. The first of these was in August 2003 when a suicide bomber drove a large truck packed with explosives into the UN headquarters in eastern Baghdad, killing at least 23 people, including UN senior representative Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Read more Analysis: Humanitarian action under siege AFGHANISTAN: High risk humanitarianism SOMALIA: “Increased hostility towards aid workers” This forced the UN mission to run all its operations from neighbouring Jordan for a few years. Later it returned to Baghdad – but to the fortified Green Zone where key Iraqi government offices and the US and UK embassies are located.

Also in 2003 a suicide car bomber attacked the main office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Baghdad killing 12 people, including two ICRC employees. ICRC withdrew its entire mission to Amman, Jordan.

A high-profile kidnapping and murder of a British aid worker took place in 2004 when militants seized Irish-born 59-year-old Margaret Hassan as she went to work in Baghdad. Hassan, who was married to an Iraqi and had lived for 30 years in Iraq, served as the country director of CARE International.

Nearly two years later, gunmen disguised in Iraqi army uniforms burst into the Iraqi Red Crescent Society offices in western Baghdad and kidnapped 25 employees and volunteers. Six were later released while the others were either killed or are still missing.

Despite a decline in violence since late 2007, NGOs have not rushed to return: “It is still too early to resume our previous activities and reopen all eight offices,” GS said.

No chance to gain experience

The absence of the UN and international NGOs has deprived Iraq’s nascent NGO community of contacts and the chance to build up experience of aid work.

“Most Iraqi NGOs lost a golden opportunity to be in touch with international aid workersâEuro¦ to learn international standards of aid work,” said Nidhal Amer Mohammed, an aid worker with the local Basra-based al-Zahraa NGO, which works on women’s issues.

“To be in touch with international NGOs on a daily basis is vital,” Nidhal said. “Emails or phone calls or training courses once or twice a year outside Iraq can’t help develop the fledgling Iraqi NGO communityâEuro¦ I think this has led some local NGOs to lose direction or fall under the influence of particular political parties.”

Remote programming

Greg Hanson, the author of the Feinstein International Center report, predicted an upsurge in violence and said NGOs needed to find ways other than remote programming to carry out their work.

He noted that remote programming, keeping a low profile and “bunkerization” âEuro” where aid workers protect themselves with highly visible security – were leading to a loss of proximity to affected Iraqis, and a fragmented delivery of humanitarian services. “Whilst remote programming options have kept the aid pipeline into Iraq open, it has been an increasingly imperfect and inefficient way to work,” Hanson said.

He said one of the effects of remote programming had been the “inadvertent institutionalization, over time, of the geographic and psychological gaps between those in remote management roles and their counterparts on the ground inside Iraq… The emergency mindset that comes from living and working among people in need is more difficult to maintain at a distance.” IRINnews

Indonesian police on Tuesday widened their investigation into last month’s bombing of two Jakarta hotels, naming a suspect who may have served as a courier for al-Qaida to fund the attacks.

Police said Ali Mohammad Abdillah, detained last week, is suspected of helping to provide financing for the bombings of the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels on July 17 that killed seven people and wounded more than 50.

“We are still investigating whether al-Qaida or another group abroad funded the bombings,” National Police spokesman Maj. Gen. Nanan Sukarna told a news conference.

Police have said they believe al-Qaida financed attacks in Indonesia that have killed more than 240 people, mostly foreign tourists on Bali, since 2002.

Regional police officials in western Java state, where Abdillah was detained, said he was caught with a Saudi passport. But Sukarna said he is not sure of Abdillah’s nationality and police are investigating.

Police confiscated cash from Abdillah, but Sukarna declined to give further details.

Sukarna also said Mohamad Jibril Abdurahman, a 30-year-old Indonesian, was wanted for questioning in the bombings.

Six suspects remain at large, including the country’s most wanted militant fugitive, Noordin Muhammad Top, who police say likely masterminded the attacks.