It certainly hasn’t been a great month for Climate Resilience, as the new US Administration, led by global warming sceptics, started to gut environmental policies, people, programs, and budgets. At the same time, prioritising nationalism ahead of Internationalism, and publicly threatening to back out of US Paris Agreement leadership commitments and financial obligations.

This is seriously bad news, and it’s fair to assume that the kind of US global Climate leadership, that we saw under the Obama Administration - with its joint Heads of State and G20 outreach for progressively tougher Paris targets and its multibillion dollar US funding vision - is now history. In fact, the hidden agenda may be worse than has been revealed so far with short term politico-economic wins trumping long term planetary and humanity well-being (pun intended).

But all is not yet lost there are several elements to add to the mix that yet may save the Paris dynamics.

First “Patience” – despite the proposed gutting of US climate programs it takes more than campaign trail rhetoric, 140 letter tweets and executive orders to destroy the action already in train. We can expect heavy legal, media and local political challenges, as well as countermanding State and City action for Climate resilience. This is a long transformation game, even though the short term has been dealt a very tough blow that is still unfolding.

Second “Business Acumen” - while oil and coal companies, as well as billionaire oligarchs support the rekindled fossil fuel love affair, the vast majority of business leaders don’t. There is no better example than Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric blogging employees that climate change is real, the science well accepted, GE is saving money by responding smartly with positive customer reaction.

Third “Market Forces” - the fact is the price trend of clean energy is moving sharply down as the availability is moving sharply up. And across the world business, citizens and governments are challenging vested fossil fuel subsidies. And then there are jobs - the new ones will be in the green growth sweet spot around the world, including the US, not in coal or oil powered infrastructure and consumption.

Fourth “Geopolitics” – even if the US were to renege on Paris, it would take some time to disentangle, and the other nations will still aggressively pursue clean energy over dirty. So despite the unhealthy potential alignment of autocrats, oligarchs and near-sighted politicians, there is still time to fight for a tough response to the one global challenge that is widely recognized as existential. We may yet be surprised, this week when President’s Xi and Trump meet to discuss a range of immediate massive global challenges, that the one concession that might come from the unpredictable US leader is that they can agree that climate change is a real near term jobs opportunity, as well as a long-term existential threat.

And that’s where SUN^x has its place, in the vitally important Travelism sector, the multi-trillion-dollar Travel & Tourism ecosystem with its infrastructure, services, and supply chain. Our local focus on Climate Resilience and Impact -Travel, which is measured, green at the core and 2050 future linked, will hopefully serve as a beacon for smart lifestyle adaptation to today’s inexorably warming world.

Professor Geoffrey Lipman co-founder of SUN^x - is also President of ICTP and former leader in IATA, WTTC and UNWTO.

Arun and Anoop George designed a home wind turbine just around the size of a ceiling fan. According to The Times of India, the turbine can generate around one to three kilowatt hours of power daily, which they say is enough to power a house.

Ending energy poverty is one of the brothers’ main goals. They say on their website that around one billion people worldwide are underserved when it comes to power. Speaking in a video, Arun said: “Whatever power they produce, for the rest of the lifetime of the wind turbine, which is around 20 years, will be free electricity.”

Last year Avant Garde Innovations was the sole Indian clean energy company invited to the 7th Clean Energy Ministerial in Silicon Valley, and were honored as one of the Top 100 Global Startups at the NEWENERGY Global Startup Fest in Kazakhstan.

Now it’s almost time to get the wind turbine to the people. The brothers aim to launch their product in the second quarter of this year. You can find out more on their website.

This article was originally published on Inhabitat

Whatever combination of forces led to Donald Trump becoming President of the United States - and for at least the next 4 years, control of nearly a quarter of the global economy, with his finger on the nuclear button - remains a frightening mystery to most of us. Now he has that control and is showing his disruptive leadership style he would do well to remember Newton’s third law “To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”.

Already many of his Executive Order initiatives have begun to demonstrate this reality - starting with his initial quasi ban on Muslims from 7 countries and the instant, outrage, demonstrations, and court challenges. Or his “Day One - Repeal Obamacare” followed by the realization that you can’t without a replacement and that needs Congress to build as well as knock down. His “Great Wall of Mexico” and Fix Sanctuary Cities mantra – both producing predictable defiance and deepening opposition. And on and on….

And you can’t play reality TV games by threatening to unilaterally impose tariffs or border taxes in a fit of pique and overturn delicate trade arrangements crafted to bring balanced benefits to all parties. You do so at the peril of retaliation and adding hidden costs to US consumers. Yes it would be putting America first for Apple to build i-phones entirely in the USA – it would just make them prohibitively expensive, reduce sales massively and put Chinese factories out of work. So, what then if China, already stung by currency accusations, and threats to its one China policy, decides to encourage its travellers to shun the USA. Chinese tourists are an important US export - the negative impact would pretty soon hit the US economy “bigly.”

Donald Trump is a man who is inclined to toss out an outrageous idea, “double-down” on his positions while offering a glimmer of hope that he’ll change his mind, based on his “Art of the Deal” tactics. What he doesn’t seem to get is that you can’t bully or play legal games with sovereign state partners for long, the way you did as a businessman with small companies, a pseudo university, and loopholes in the tax code. Or unravel decades of partnership obligations with a smart one liner, the stroke of a pen and a barrage of 140 character tweets.

Most importantly, Donald Trump would also do well to remember there is a real elephant in the room - climate change - that it’s existential and it doesn’t have a twitter account. He has already signalled his disdain for the Paris Treaty and placed shackles on the Environment Protection Agency in his first week in office, in addition to nominating a climate change sceptic as Administrator. And at the same time opening dormant pipelines and pledging to give big oil a new state supported lease of drilling life.

All this, while the science and the experts make it clear that Sandy type storms, Louisiana type floods, Kansas type tornados and California style droughts will only get more intense, more frequent and more costly. And it will hit everyone, everywhere - inside the US and with similar patterns around the world.

These realities won’t change because Donald Trump threatens to tear up the one deal that every country on earth supports as the best chance for a survivable future. It’s time to “walk-back” the thoughtless anti-Paris rhetoric and get on board with the rest of humanity.

Professor Geoffrey Lipman SUN

Click here to view video.

Check out this talk by the Executive Secretary of UNFCCC here.

Check out this inspirational TED talk here.

What do you learn when you sail around the world on your own? When solo sailor Ellen MacArthur circled the globe – carrying everything she needed with her – she came back with new insight into the way the world works, as a place of interlocking cycles and finite resources, where the decisions we make today affect what's left for tomorrow. She proposes a bold new way to see the world's economic systems: not as linear, but as circular, where everything comes around.

See more of this TED lecture here.

See more at: http://www.trainingaid.org/news/etourism-communication-perspectives-massive-open-online-course-mooc

BRUSSELS - With the support of HOTREC, the umbrella Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes in Europe and its Members in Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Malta and Slovenia, the Malta Business Bureau (MBB) launched a report showing that savings of around 1.4 billion Euros are possible for the EU hospitality industry through greening the sector.

The report entitled 'The potential for energy and water savings within the EU through flow rate regulation and greywater treatment,' was presented recently to the European Commissioner for the Environment Karmenu Vella by the MBB on 12th June 2015.

Upon welcoming the report, the EU Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella expressed that “Water stress is a growing factor in many EU countries and is an area in which there are clear and easy technological wins. The promising results of this study will feed into future Commission work.”

Commenting on the report’s findings, HOTREC President, Susanne Kraus Winkler stated that “Saving 365 trillion litres of water and reducing the energy required to heat water, resulting in around 1.8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions reduction, is a great step ahead in greening the economy. Furthermore, operating costs would be reduced by 1.4 billion Euros per annum thus increasing the sector’s profitability as well as competitiveness.”

The report shows that these savings could be achieved through the industry-wide adoption of flow rate regulation on showers and wash-hand basins (1), and greywater treatment (2).

“We are very pleased with this result which promotes the hospitality industry’s commitment to greening the EU economy and we congratulate the Malta Business Bureau and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association for this major breakthrough. With this example, HOTREC demonstrates its catalyst effect and role of best practice sharing platform, thanks to its 42 National Member Associations in 28 European countries” said Ms. Kraus Winkler.

The report follows previous assessments by the MBB's award winning EU LIFE+ Investing in Water Project. As part of that project, a key measure which could facilitate wider adoption of these measures was identified to be a European Eco-Label for water consuming appliances, and the creation of a standard for 2nd class water.

The MBB, together with its international partners, will work on common initiatives which would help driving a wider adoption of flow rate regulation and greywater treatment.

Commenting on the MBB's commitment to facilitating this transition, MBB CEO Joe Tanti said “Such a drive could merge green job creation, the financial strengthening of one of Europe’s large industries, and the creation of a new industry with strong potential for export. This would stimulate increased growth within the European economy while saving water, reducing CO2 emissions and energy dependence. It would be an excellent case study in environmental measures making excellent business sense. - See more at: http://www.traveldailynews.com/news/article/66740/economic-stimulus-through-greener-eu#sthash.lfZfjASr.dpuf

Report of the Horizon 2020 expert group on cultural heritage.

“Cultural heritage is a significant force for 21st century Europe. Not only is it at the heart of what it means to be European, it is being discovered by both governments and citizens as a means of improving economic performance, people’s lives and living environments.” “Evidence demonstrates that relatively modest investment in cultural heritage can pay substantial dividends. These can be taken economically but also in terms of improving environmental sustainability and social cohesion.”