Is it possible to continue to grow, yet remain sustainable? I guess the short answer to that is no? In all systems, a tipping point and/or a carrying capacity is reached, thus ultimately leading to a collapse. This can be seen in predator-prey relationships, the stock market, etc. I guess the real question is when will humans hit their carrying capacity? And what will it look like? Many cities across the United States have been inventing new measures in order to not hit a collapse. Many of these new measures include building more sustainable and resilient cities. When building a sustainable city, the most important features to address are waste management, transportation, energy, and available food.
Transportation is critical. Forms of transportation include: trains, biking, walking, and motor vehicles. Some modes are more sustainable than others. However, currently in the United States, the prominent mode of local transportation is also the least sustainable – passenger motor vehicles. “US passenger vehicles are used for 86% of all transportation and 76% of residents drive alone to work every day” (Miller 2018, 614). In other words, transportation is vital for moving around and necessary. Yet, it remains to be one of the most unsustainable and emission producing systems. Cities have methods in implementing more sustainable measures. These methods include discouraging personal use of motor vehicles and providing safe alternatives. Discouragement is implemented by environmental gas taxes, raising parking fees, tolls on bridges and roads, and car sharing networks. For instance, in Europe it has reduced the average car drivers’ carbon dioxide emissions by 40-50%. This is mainly because less people own personal cars when a car sharing network is available. Safer and more sustainable alternatives implemented by cities over the years are light rails systems (streetcars, cable cars, trams), heavy rail systems (subways and metro trains), bike lanes, scooters, etc. These transportation alternatives use far less energy and produces less emissions. Implementing these two methods can create a far more sustainable city and is imperative to the health of its citizens.
Waste management is also critical. If waste is improperly disposed of it can enter underground water sources, thus disrupt the city’s drinking water supply. Then, there is the matter of plastics that take hundreds of years to decompose. Chris Jordan in “Venus 2011” has an art piece that really puts in magnitude how much 240,000 plastic bags, the estimated number of plastic bags consumed around the world every ten seconds, truly is. In other words, how cities and people around the world manage waste is a major contributor to the damage humans are imposing on this planet. To prevent further degradation, residents of eco-cities have harnessed the ability to reuse, recycle, and compost 60-80% of municipal solid waste (Miller 2018, 621). Meanwhile, sometimes these cities use waste as means of energy to power infrastructure. Some other countries have been doing this for years. For instance, in parts of India some people use cow dung as a form of energy to help start fires to cook their food. However, the method in which waste is burned can have unsustainable components that need to be taken account of.
Currently, a lot of cities, including NYC, run on natural gas, coal, or oil. Although transportation is the major contributor to emissions, infrastructure also emits a heavy share. However, this can change. The energy that infrastructure uses can come from solar cells on rooftops and walls of buildings, solar hot-water heaters, add geothermal heating and cooling systems (Miller 2018, 621). Across the world, there are many areas trying to transition into independent and self-sustaining cities or towns in terms of energy and other processes. They are called transitions towns. The aim of Transition US is to be a “catalyst for building resilient communities across the United States that are able to withstand severe energy, climate, or economic shocks while creating a better quality of life in the process” (Wikipedia 2019). Not only is changing to renewable energy sources better for the environment, but also fosters independence between regions. Many people believe the decrease in using natural resources, such as in terms of energy consumption, will damage the economy. However, “degrowth” has the possibility of abandoning the global economy in the Global South. Therefore, people of the South can become more self-sufficient and would end the overconsumption and exploitation of Southern resources by the North (Wikipedia 2020).
A lot of cities depend on outside sources for food. For instance, Manhattan is an island that must provide food to about 9 million people. Meanwhile, it is also not self-sustaining in terms of food production, therefore it looks beyond its borders. However, many scientists believe that cities can be self-sustaining in terms of food production. This can be done by creating more solar greenhouses, community gardens, and gardens on rooftops (Miller 2018, 622). A new concept of farming that has been introduced in the past decade are vertical farms. Vertical farms are in multistory buildings and can designed to provide food for up 50,000 people (Miller 2018, 622). Hydroponics can be grown on the upper floors, meanwhile fish and chicken that feed on plant waste can be found in the bottom floors (Miller 2018, 622).
As overpopulation and the further exhaustion of our resources is coming closer, it is imperative to start creating solutions for the future. Sustainability is key. Just like the hamster in the freaky YouTube video, there is a point where growth becomes unsustainable. Earth has created a limited amount of resources and a system of checks and balances. So far, humans have done good job in manipulating these checks and balances by cultivating livestock, pesticides and fertilizers for food production, irrigation, etc. However, this has only made things worse for the ecosystems surrounding us. It is crucial to begin building or rebuilding sustainable cities that are self-sustaining and don’t rely on limited outside resources. If this is not done soon enough, soon the whole system will reach a tipping point and collapse.
Q: How big of a role do you think the United States has in being a role model of sustainability?
Reference List
“Degrowth.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, February 17, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrowth.
Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman. 2018. Living in the Environment. 19th ed., Cengage Learning.
“Transition Town.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, December 14, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_town.
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Environmental Studies 