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Go green! Message from Pittsburgh

US President Barack Obama, the host for the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, seems to have a clear message to send while choosing the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden as the venue for the inaugural reception for invited leaders.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, here for the two-day summit at Obama's invitation, will get to see and explore the grand steel and glass Victorian greenhouse that stands at one of Pittsburgh's largest green spaces.

With the US pushing its own agenda for other countries to ensure their commitment to reducing emissions, the garden is seen as the right choice as it has become a string advocate for green building practices, sustainable gardening and new environment awareness in the US.

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$10,000 for a piece to camera!

There are, indeed, no free lunches in the US! The television journalists who are part of the prime minister's media delegation to the G20 Pittsburgh Summit are learning this the hard way.

From audio-video feeds to providing a good backdrop for the piece to cameras, each and every bit of services rendered to journalists is being charged. In fact such is the tariff for hosting.

Everything costs money at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. In fact, a piece to camera from the venue with the Indian Express could set an organisation back by as much as $10,000.

(Arvind Padmanabhan can be contacted at arvind.p@ians.in)