Lead by example, it is often said. And when it comes to making buildings more sustainable and use less energy, architects are worried that the Federal government could soon abandon that worthy role.
 
Legislation currently being considered in Congress would weaken or eliminate energy efficiency performance standards for federal buildings. Ironically, such a proposal  is likely to be offered as an amendment to the Shaheen-Portman energy conservation bill, which our profession heartily endorses and which is scheduled for mark-up on Wednesday, May 8.  

Should a national poll ever be conducted asking parents if their children were ready to be completely independent at age 18 the results would likely show most Americans answering in the negative.
 
That’s because if you ask any parent they’ll tell you they’ve all gotten a call from there 19, 20 or 21 year old asking for extra money while attending college or perhaps needing a place to stay while they look for work after completing their degree. 
 
The results would probably show higher negatives if parents polled were asked should their children be on their own at age 18 after suffering instability at home, changing multiple schools throughout their youth or experiencing extensive physical, emotional and sometimes sexual abuse.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently got in a rather public spat with the U.S. Department of State over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project. Apart from the irregularity of one Cabinet agency attacking another, the episode was a boondoggle for the EPA, which came out looking both petty and unscientific.
 
In a letter to the State Department, the EPA contends that the State Department (which has the ultimate say in the whether or not the pipeline gets the green light) did not accurately assess the magnitude of the carbon dioxide emissions that would result from the burning of the 830,000 barrels of oil the pipeline would transport each day.

Democracy is a wonderful thing. Campaigning for national office in the 21st century? Not so much.

It isn’t just that officeholders spend less time governing and more time campaigning and fundraising. It’s also that we, the people, have less time to get on with our lives because of the constant campaigning we must navigate.

That the permanent campaign is bad for governing has been widely noted. But it also eats away at citizens’ time, demanding more than is needed for healthy civic engagement. Ignoring elections is an understandable, even rational response to all the campaigning; what if it becomes the rational response?

Whether it’s sequestration, the budget crisis or the debt ceiling debate, America continues to kick the can down the road on problems large and small. Most Americans have reached the point where they just roll their eyes when they hear about the latest dysfunction out of Washington.
 
But it’s time to pay attention because Washington’s dysfunction is making America dysfunctional.
 
Economists such as Stanford’s Nicholas Bloom have recently traced the link between policy uncertainty and the reluctance of businesses to make long-term commitments. This means that people aren’t hiring and workers aren’t working as a direct consequence of our elected leaders’ inability to work together.

Congress is currently considering legislation (H.R. 300, H.R. 938, S. 462, S. 266) that would include Israel in the Visa Waiver Program, allowing Israeli citizens to enter the U.S. without obtaining a visa. Because countries seeking to qualify for visa waivers must provide "reciprocal privileges to citizens and nationals of the United States,” I would advise current sponsors and members considering signing on in the future to first take a hard look at the Department of State's Travel Advisory for Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

According to the State Department, "U.S. citizens are advised that all persons applying for entry to Israel, the West Bank, or Gaza...may be denied entry or exit without explanation.” The advisory specifically notes that "U.S. citizens whom Israeli authorities suspect of being Arab, Middle Eastern, or Muslim origin...may face additional... and probing questioning by... authorities, or may be denied entry.”

Another May Day has come and gone. Yet American workers have precious little to celebrate. And those working for the nation’s largest private-sector employer, Wal-Mart, have even less to celebrate than most.

Last year, for the first time in the firm’s 50-year history, Wal-Mart employees participated in several strikes and job actions leading up to a national day of protest on Black Friday. The organization representing Wal-Mart employees, OUR Wal-Mart, was protesting against poor pay and benefits, and management retaliation against workers who speak out. This wasn’t the first time that Wal-Mart employees have protested against substandard working conditions, and in the past, Wal-Mart has simply assumed that the protests will eventually die out, especially given employees’ understandable fear of management retribution.

In 2012, National Geographic told us, “Unlike CO2, methane affects human health, because it is a precursor of smog.” Now the Environmental Defense Fund tells us, “... each pound of methane is 72 times more powerful at increasing the retention of heat in the atmosphere than a pound of carbon dioxide.” So, what is this toxic greenhouse gas, methane? It’s natural gas, that stuff we get from “fracking.”

America’s manufacturing sector is experiencing a renaissance, thanks in large part to unprecedented access to abundant supplies of natural gas from shale. Natural gas is the chemical industry’s primary feedstock, and with U.S. natural gas prices as low as they are, America’s chemistry industry is in a strong competitive position for the first time in years. That means our downstream partners who rely on our industry to produce medicine, cars, computers, building materials and other essential goods are in a more competitive position.