January 22, 2008

Prince Charles (in Hologram) Lauds UAE’s Green Cities Investment

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abu_dhabi.jpgWhich is more bizarre? Prince Charles’ hologram walking and twiddling his way across a stage, or a proposal for a no-waste, carbon-neutral city in a desert where searing temperatures make air conditioning a must?

Both the hologram and the city plan made appearances at the World Future Energy Summit, in Abu Dhabi, which began yesterday and runs through tomorrow. It might seem strange to discuss energy efficiency and global warming in a country that sells oil for a living, but 2,500 delegates from around the world are doing just that. Some tidbits from the summit thus far:
-Prince Charles, OB Wan Kenobi-style, called for immediate climate change action.
-Abu Dhabi, partnering with MIT, will build an alternative energy university.
-A British architect announced an elaborate plan for a car-free, zero-emissions city for 50,000 to be powered by solar panels.
-Abu Dhabi will spend $15 billion on a green energy initiative and will build the world’s largest hydrogen power plant.

Now, if only Las Vegas would follow in the footsteps of Abu Dhabi, that’d be something to hologram about.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

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