U.N. thermostat to be set higher

Betsy Pisik
The Washington Times
Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Everyone complains about climate change, and the United Nations is finally doing something about it – on Friday, the temperature inside U.N. headquarters in New York will rise by 5 degrees.

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations’ self-professed environmental secretary-general, ordered the “In-House Climate Change Initiative” to save energy, cut carbon emissions and try to mitigate climate change.

Officials said the monthlong experiment – dubbed “Cool U.N.” – also will allow engineers to test energy consumption and utility costs in the notoriously antiquated building.

It also will stretch the comfort and good will of about 4,500 staffers, who work in the glass-walled Secretariat, a veritable 39-story terrarium planted in full sun on the East River.

“It will be like Addis Ababa,” said one crestfallen staff member, referring to the tropical capital of Ethiopia. “The air conditioning didn’t work too well there, either.”

Anwarul Chowdhury, a former U.N. ambassador from Bangladesh, said Tuesday that the Cool U.N. initiative sounds like “tokenism.”

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