Cities of the Future

By 2007, 3.2 billion people
a number larger than the entire global population of 1967
will live in cities. Developing countries will absorb nearly all of the world¹s population increases between today and 2030. The urban growth rate of 1.8 percent for 2000 to 2030 will double the number of city dwellers in less than 30 years. Meanwhile, rural populations are growing scarcely at all. In this cover story, E profiles some of the world¹s largest and most environmentally challenged megacities.

Cities of the Future (Continued)

Today’s "Mega-cities" are Overcrowded and Environmentally Stressed Lagos, Nigeria In 1950, with just 288,000 people, Lagos wasn’t even a speck on the map of the largest urban centers. Today, the rapidly growing city of 14 million in Africa’s most populous country is on its way to becoming the third-largest city in the world. By 2015, […]

Smoke, Mirrors and Pain at the Pumps

In my last column in this space, I looked at how the Bush administration had weakened the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) law, and failed to close a loophole by which the largest trucks and SUVs weighing 8,500 pounds or more are exempt from any federal regulation. "At a time when Americans are paying record prices for gas, the Bush Administration has sided with its cronies in the auto industry and rejected real solutions," says Dan Becker of the Sierra Club.

Internet Trade in Exotic Animals Threatens Endangered Species

According to a recently released study by the U.K. chapter of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), a booming Internet trade in exotic animal parts is hastening the extinction of a host of endangered wildlife species around the world. The report, "Caught in the Web, Wildlife Trade on the Internet," cites hundreds of examples of live primates and thousands of rare animal products–for the most part the product of illegal poaching–for sale via websites (such as eBay.com) over the course of just one recent week.

Greens Worried About Roberts’ Environmental Stance

No doubt, the Bush administration relished the opportunity to put a conservative judge by the name of John Roberts on the Supreme Court last month. And it is no surprise that environmentalists digging into Roberts’ stands in previous cases do not like what they are finding.

A Green Agenda for Cities

More than 70 mayors and other local leaders from around the world have signed the Urban Environmental Accords, 21 ambitious—but non-binding—sustainability goals. They pledged specifically to work toward getting 10 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2012, extending public transit to within a quarter mile of all city residents by 2015, reducing greenhouse gases by 25 percent by 2030 and achieving zero municipal waste by 2040.

Saving Sealife

In the spring of 1984, Peter Wallerstein received a phone call about an adult whale and her calf struggling to free themselves from the cutting confines of a gill net. Many of his previous phone calls to the Los Angeles city authorities had gone unanswered, and Wallerstein, then director of the Sea Shepherd Society, decided it was time to take matters into his own hands.

Looking at Lula

The total area deforested in Brazil between 2003 and 2004 totaled 10,000 square miles, an area the size of Massachusetts and the second-highest figure in history. The pace of deforestation has increased every year for the last decade. The situation actually got worse—at least six percent worse—during the young presidency of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Lula, as he is widely known, took office in 2003 as Brazil’s first left-leaning president in nearly four decades.

The Hundred Year War

When Congress granted San Francisco the right to flood the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park to bring water and hydroelectric power to the city in 1913, it was supposed to be the end of the discussion. But these days, the fight to save Hetch Hetchy has been rejuvenated. Four major research efforts—three within the past five years—all suggest the same thing: that San Francisco’s use of Hetch Hetchy as its own private water tank may no longer be the best way to bring water and power to some 2.4 million people in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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