Gibbs Smith, Publisher
is proud to announce the publication of Winning Our Energy Independence:
An Energy Insider Shows How
by S. David Freeman

BEIJING — September 28, 2007 – Joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy (JUCCCE), a results-driven NGO aiming to significantly reduce China’s carbon footprint, announced today that it was undertaking aggressive commitments for the widespread introduction of more energy efficient light bulbs, and the training of city mayors on how to reduce their cities’ environmental impact. Both programs will be in partnership with China’s Ministry of Construction. The commitments were announced at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2007 Annual Meeting.

Converting Bulbs to CFL
The China Lighting Conversion program, the first large-scale clean development mechanism (CDM) effort in China of its kind, aims to distribute 10 million energy efficient Compact Fluorescent (CFL) bulbs at no cost to consumers. The cost of CFLs is still largely out of reach for most Chinese, and the program will reduce CO2 emissions from coal-fired electricity plants, but also educate consumers on the possibility for energy savings.

The program is scheduled to launch in April 2008, with a target of 10 million lamps replaced in the first year. Partners in the program include China’s Ministry of Construction, Bertelsmann, Bridgehead Media, and Policy Solutions among others.

Lighting accounts for 19% of all electricity consumed worldwide. Deploying 10 million lamps in China would save about 3.7 million tons of CO2 over an estimated 4-1/2 years and eliminate the need for ten 50 megawatt coal-fired power plants. In other words, an investment of $17 million would eliminate the need for the equivalent of $500 million investments in new power plants.

Energy Efficient Urban Design Tools for Mayors
JUCCCE also committed to developing an interactive, multimedia curriculum to train hundreds of city mayors in China on ways to make their cities more energy efficient. The program is also in partnership with the Ministry of Construction, American Sinotech, the Energy Foundation, and will be run through the Ministry’s Mayoral Training Center in Beijing.

The program, set to begin in October 2008, is largely targeted at giving mayors actionable steps to make more energy efficienct the 7.5 billion square feet of new building space that will be built in China each year over the next 20 years. According to the US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration, that amount of square footage is more than the combined floor space of all the malls and strip malls presently in the United States.

This program brings together tools and solutions that mayors can use now, with vendors, service providers and financial solution providers that can help implement locally.

“China’s central government is proactively addressing issues of energy and environment. However, new regulations are far ahead of local capabilities to assess, implement and enforce,” says Peggy Liu, chairman of JUCCE. “Mayors need solutions and regulatory best practices that they can deploy today.”

About JUCCCE
JUCCCE, a non-governmental, non-profit organization, is dedicated to significantly increasing energy efficiency and the use of clean energy in China within 10 years, while building trust and cooperation between China and the US. www.juccce.com

About Clinton Global Initiative President Clinton started the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in 2005. A non-partisan catalyst for action, CGI brings together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI consists of approximately 1,000 members from all over the world who commit to create or support projects within one or more of CGI’s annual areas of focus. In 2007, the areas of focus are education, energy & climate change, global health, and poverty alleviation. www.clintonglobalinitiative.org

ART BORN OF THE NEED TO TELL

 A Collaborative Experience Focused on
Los Desaparecidos / The Disappeared
October 2007 – January 2008
9 Institutions, 7 exhibitions, 53 artists, 14 films
12 lectures, 5 artist workshops
 

Santa Fe, NM–The word ”disappeared” was redefined during the military dictatorships that ruled many Latin American countries during the mid-twentieth century. “Disappear” became a transitive verb, describing members of the resistance and their sympathizers who were kidnapped, tortured, and killed by the military, especially in the latter decades of the twentieth century.

Palmal G. Face
Luis Gonzáles Palma
Hermetic Tensions / Tensiones Hermeticas, 1997

Beginning October 3, 2007 and continuing through January 20, 2008, the theme of the “disappeared” will serve as a catalyst for an unprecedented arts partnership. The Disappeared Collaborative Project [DCP]–presenting exhibitions, films, lectures, readings, workshops, and panel discussions with artists whose lives have been profoundly affected by the political upheavals in their respective countries. Some worked in the resistance; some had parents or siblings who were disappeared; others were forced into exile. The youngest were born into the aftermath of those dictatorships. Still others have lived in countries paralyzed by endless civil war. For further information and a complete schedule of events visit http://www.thedisappearedsantafe.org

The Disappeared Collaborative Project (DCP) includes nine regional organizations: Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA); Center for Contemporary Arts Cinematheque; College of Santa Fe/Documentary Studies Program (CSF); College of Santa Fe/Marion Center for Photographic Arts; Institute of American Indian Arts Museum (IAIA); Lannan Foundation; the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) in Albuquerque; Santa Fe Art Institute (SFAI); and SITE Santa Fe.

“There may have been a more moving show of contemporary political art in the city this season than ‘The Disappeared’, but if so I missed it,” wrote Holland Cotter in The New York Times when the show traveled to El Museo del Barrio this Spring.

This remarkable exhibition is complemented by shows of individual artists from Latin America who, over the course of the last thirty years, have made art about the disappeared. Included are Oscar Muñoz at Center for Contemporary Arts; Fernando Traverso’s …puede no haber banderas (…there could be no flags) presented by the College of Santa Fe’s Documentary Studies Program and The Marion Center for Photographic Arts at The Atrium Gallery; Juan Manuel Echavarría’s Mouths of Ash (Bocas de Ceniza) at Santa Fe Art Institute; woodcuts by Antonio Frasconi at Institute of American Indian Art Museum; and La Mirada Critica (The Critical Gaze), an installation by Luis Gonzáles Palma at the Lannan Foundation’s gallery.

Palmal G. Shirt
Luis Gonzáles Palma
Hermetic Tensions / Tensiones Hermeticas, 1997

Running in tandem with these exhibitions, Center for Contemporary Arts Cinematheque in Santa Fe and the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque will present The Restless Cinema, a series of films exploring loss, diaspora, dislocation, and the repercussions of political oppression for Latin American filmmakers.

DCP organizations will also present lectures, workshops, panel discussions, master classes, and other encounters with artists in The Disappeared exhibition, as well as other artists and filmmakers who have made work examining social, cultural, and political issues in Latin America, both in the past and in the present.

A key component of DCP is extensive educational and community outreach programs for students and other groups. Collaborative partners will offer special programming and free community days throughout the three-month project.

Encouraging a deeper study of the relationship between history, social policy, and art-making, this extraordinary convergence of collaboration and commemoration kicks off on Friday, October 12, 2007 with a series of free public exhibition openings and the Disappeared Collaborative Project Opening Event: Laurel Reuter and Lawrence Weschler: A Conversation at The Lensic at 7 PM. For further information visit http://www.thedisappearedsantafe.org.

As Weschler states in his preface to The Disappeared exhibition catalogue: The challenge in these societies is to find a way of reclaiming the dead and honoring their presence in a manner that nonetheless still allows room for, indeed creates room for the living.