24 May 2007

Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA)

From the Rotary District 9750 MUNA program:

The Model UN Assembly is in its 12th year in Australia and has developed into an important Rotary project, with the aim of fostering an understanding of the workings of the UN and International Understanding and Goodwill.

Rotary International's relationship with the UN is as old as the UN itself. In 1945 there were 45 Rotarians in 29 delegations at the UN Charter Conference in San Francisco.

The UN Association created MUNA, to enable young people in high schools to simulate the great debates of the UN Assemblies. Rotary first conducted MUNA at Winnipeg in Canada. It was introduced to Australia in 1988 and since 1997 culminates in a national competition in Canberra at the Old Parliament House.



Saturday, May 19, on the 7:40 train from Central Station in Sydney, arriving into the Unanderra station in the Wollongong area at 9:30am. As measured in July 2001, 85% of Australians live within 50 kilometers of the coastline - here's one little coastal village we passed on the way.


The MUNA conference was held at the Nan Tien Temple, opened in 1995. It is the largest Buddhist temple in the Southern Hemisphere, and has the best conference facilities MUNA could hope for.



Happy Buddha



Photography is not allowed in the temple, so this is the best I could do for an interior view.



Shoes off to enter.



21 UN member nations represented at this conference; The team representing Russia won for best costumes, they were really outstanding with everything they did.



Clearly, the sombrero on a Mexico team member. We sat across the room from the team portraying the USA, 4 talented kids, with McDonalds cups and Hillary Clinton books for props. The boy in blue wore a holiday outfit complete with Hawaiian shirt, and flip-flops with white socks. The girl next to him wore an I heart NY t-shirt, very nice. The second girl wore a Yankees jersey and the second boy wore a black suit wall-street style, with sunglasses on half the time.



USA Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars with the 1st-place winning USA team from Caringbah High School. Left to right: Julie Janiski, I love New York, Laurent Oliva, Tara McKenzie, On Vacation, Jamie Fumo and Go Yankees.


22 May 2007

Royal Botanic Gardens



from an office tower



on the edge of the business district



if only they sounded as pretty as they look



many many bats in the trees




10 May 2007

Rotary - It's a Hard Life


Many many thanks to Geoff and Joan Pritchard for hosting an evening of Rotary friends. The scholars in District 9750, along with two Swedish GSE team members and others, were treated to dinner and drinks at their home near Milson's Point on the North Shore. This is their view of Luna Park, directly below, and Lavender Bay.



First thing's first: Champagne on the roof of their triplex, while making sure not to fall in the pool.








05 May 2007

Rotary PR

A little Rotary fun:
If you were to use this photo in an ad campaign for Rotary International (by inserting text in the convenient empty space on the right), what would you say? I might even have a little prize for the best idea... :o)


Photo courtesy of Toby Tanzer

28 April 2007

Birthday Photos (April 27)


Sumalee Thai at the Bank Hotel on King Street in Newtown
(very yummy!)



Out to the garden for drinks.



Cheers!



Carolina and Andrew think they're on a roller coaster.



Saren, Derrick, birthday girl, Philip



Group photo! Jan, Saren, Derrick, yours truly, Thomas, and Andrew in the front.



And then I gathered the boys...
Karl (USA), Andrew (South Africa), Enrico (Italy), happy girl, Philip (USA), Edwin (South Africa), Derrick (USA), Soenke? is that your name? possibly from Germany? :)


18 April 2007

The Economics of Sustainable Design

The New York Times (which I'm addicted to and read online daily) has been doing an outstanding job in their articles on sustainability. The links to a few recent articles are given below with brief descriptions of what they discuss. Bravo to the NYT!

Maybe Only God Can Make a Tree...
The New York City Parks Department, after a 2-year study, has put a dollar and cents value to its trees, concluding that for each dollar NYC spends on its trees, the city receives $5.60 worth of benefit.

The Power of Green
"Green: The New Red, White and Blue" Thomas Friedman's argument that America could re-establish itself as a beacon of progress, hope and inspiration by committing itself to a green political movement.

Home Depot to Display an Environmental Label
Take fluorescent light bulbs - while they cost more at check out, they last longer and use less energy - and then multiply that by the 3000 products they are starting with for the potential impact this initiative will have. It's all about the green.

And for anyone REALLY interested in the economics of it all:
The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
Sir Nicholas Stern contends that it will cost less for the world to sit up today and spend money on environmental concerns than it would cost for the repercussions of doing nothing in the "business as usual" approach. Like anything, it's not perfect, but it has done well by getting the attention of decision makers world-wide.

... and this one is for the architecture people.

PSB - It's Renzo Piano in Sydney!
Matthew - Still working on Renzo Piano in Noumea...


Aurora Place + Macquarie Apartments


Louvers!


Open louvers!