San Francisco, California
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San Francisco, California The United States, according to its navel-gazing media, is in an existential crisis. Its economy is struggling, its politics are dysfunctional, and the ‘future’, something it once had a trademark on, has apparently migrated to exotic oriental locales where construction cranes sprout effortlessly like budding superpower weeds. Even one of America’s [...] For a small city of a few hundred thousand people on an island isolated by the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, Honolulu has a fairly dense and highrise skyline. Considering its status as a sun destination and a tourism mecca, though, perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising- the Waikiki strip in particular is a veritable concrete [...] Doris Duke, the famous American tobacco heiress, kindled her passion for Islamic art collecting on a globe-trotting honeymoon in the 1930s. At its end, she also happened to visit, and fall in love with, Hawaii. The result? A stunning palace of cultural confusion nicknamed Shangri La, her private residence and winter retreat on [...]
Moana Surfrider Hotel, Waikiki Beach It shouldn’t come as a surprise to many that Canada has experienced a rough ride at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen. Represented by members of a minority Conservative government who are 1) obsessed with short-term political gain and 2) seemingly unable to distinguish between the words “environment”, “economy” and “oil”, the country [...] Beyond all the big state hob-knobbing in Asia and the canned prophecies of American central bankers, something important took place today largely outside the realm of mainstream media obsession: the new head of Greenpeace International, Dr. Kumi Naidoo, finished his first day on the job. Dr. Naidoo, whom I had the pleasure of hearing speak [...] In case you missed the story on page A9 of your newspaper, the US House of Representatives recently passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Apart from the actual contents of the climate change bill itself, the very fact this even happened is a small victory in itself. Yes, opinions vary widely on the [...] Despite the financial and economic meltdown of the past few years, the infamous ‘American consumer’ remains front and center of many mainstream storylines. Will they return to the malls in droves, or will they save every penny? If they collapse from retail and interest rate exhaustion, who will pick up the overconsumption torch? [...] Just my luck: as I’m knee deep in final exam preparations, without the faintest thought given over to blogging, GM announces it is in talks to sell Hummer to a Chinese company. If there was ever a story to resurrect favourite ‘China Rising’ memes such as the nouveau riche, car culture and/or consumer delight, it [...] |
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