[sustran] Finding green in the concrete jungle

[Todd Edelman]

This barely mentions transport, and says nuclear energy can help city
dwellers win an "eco-prize". The lake they show a photo of is unreal.

- T

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Finding green in the concrete jungle

By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website

Apart from a few lower members of the animal kingdom, no-one other than
human beings build cities.

Chongqing in China is growing fast - so is the pollution

They are totally artificial constructs and in them we live artificial
lives. We travel differently, eat different food, receive water and energy
through pipes and wires, live in different kinds of buildings, do
different jobs.

All of these things come with an environmental price-tag. Given that the
world's urban population is expanding at such a rate, it is worth asking
what are the numbers on that price-tag, and whether they are higher or
lower than the environmental cost of living a rural life.

Does a person produce more or less carbon dioxide on moving from the
countryside to the city? If the answer is "less", how should that be
offset against a bigger contribution to urban smog? Is trash piling up on
a street corner better or worse than excess fertiliser running from
farmland into the water supply?

Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5072642.stm

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Todd Edelman
Director
Green Idea Factory

++420 605 915 970

edelman at greenidea.info
http://www.worldcarfree.net/onthetrain

Green Idea Factory,
a member of World Carfree Network