How Green is Your City?A: List the major ideas, concepts or key points- point by point
-Creation of the state-of-the-art eco-city called Dongtan on China's Chongming Island was supposed to be built
-The island remains to be unbuilt
-It was originally slated for completion in 2010 but has not proceeded construction in 2009
-It is one of the numerous planned eco-cities that have fizzled due to the cost
-If eco-cities were successful, the effect on overall energy use and emissions would be minimal, because the vast majority of urbanites would still live in existing cities
-All the reasons suggest that we cannot rely on new construction to address challenges of feeding, housing and transporting urban population in ecologically sound ways
-The solution to the problem needs to take the future into account
-Cities today are greener than suburbs
-Urbanites use less energy and emit less CO per household than suburban counterparts because they live in closer quarters and use public transportation
-Metropolises will not be able to sustain themselves if left to operate on a business as usual basis
-Demand for resources will oustrip supply as number of people inhabiting cities swells from more than three billion to more than six billion by 2050
-New cities could have sustainability built in their infrastructure from the start
-Larger payoffs would come from retrofitting existing cities for sustainability
-Working with existing cities can be less costly than rebuilding cities from scratch. It could save enormous amounts of energy and water
-To meet these objectives, people could take good ideas from planned eco-cities that succeed as incubators for innovation.
-Simple changes can go a long way toward helping cities support us in the future.
-A key priority for cities adapting to a world transformed by global warming is increasing energy efficiency
-A major focus is equipping old buildings with energy-efficient features.
-Existing cities can benefit from installing transportation systems meant for eco-cities.
-Instead of spewing 1.7 billion metric tons of CO2 a year, the electric car proposed for Fujisawa City would produce no tailpipe emissions.
-Simple changes like converting buses to run on compressed natural gas can clean up the air and improve efficiency.
-Cities must not only conserve energy and limit emissions, but also diversify their energy supply.
-Ensuring that sustainable supply of freshwater continues to flow in urban populations is another daunting task facing the international community.
-Large swathes of the world are pushing limits of water availability.
-To help cities conserve, C40( a planning group for 59 major cities engaged in efforts to combat climate change) developed a list of best practices based on case studies of strategies.
-Austin, TX offers a number of incentives to curb water use, including rebates for installing rainwater harvesting systems.
-Water also needs to be clean.
-Meeting this objective will mean not maintaining the status quo but vastly improving on it.
-1/3 of city dwellers live in the slums, which lack access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
-Poor waste management is not just a problem for water quality
-Even better than disposing of waste or recycling it is to make something useful from it.
-Cities will need cutting-edge technology to help achieve their long-term sustainability goals.
-Policy tweaks and low-tech solutions can play an important role.
-The real battle to make existing cities such as NY more sustainable may be won in the minds of superintendents managing the metropolis's one million buildings.
-Concepts are spreading worldwide thanks to organizations such as C40
-Boosting ability to provide clean energy, transportation, food, water and waste disposal will be key strategies to ensuring a brighter future for mankind
-When it comes to eco-cities, efforts too often prioritize aesthetics over the real-world needs of people
-It is people who ultimately make a city sustainable or not-In Tokyo, pipes are regularly checked and leaks can be sealed the same day they are identified
B: Summarize the AUTHOR’s main point or idea- at LEAST 1-2 paragraphs
In this article the author talks about modern cities. Creation of the state-of-the-art eco-city called Dongtan on China's Chongming Island was supposed to be built. If eco-cities were successful, the effect on overall energy use and emissions would be minimal, because the vast majority of urbanites would still live in existing cities. All the reasons suggest that we cannot rely on new construction to address challenges of feeding, housing and transporting urban population in ecologically sound ways. Demand for resources will oustrip supply as number of people inhabiting cities swells from more than three billion to more than six billion by 2050. Larger payoffs would come from retrofitting existing cities for sustainability. A key priority for cities adapting to a world transformed by global warming is increasing energy efficiency. Instead of spewing 1.7 billion metric tons of CO2 a year, the electric car proposed for Fujisawa City would produce no tailpipe emissions. Ensuring that sustainable supply of freshwater continues to flow in urban populations is another daunting task facing the international community. To help cities conserve, C40( a planning group for 59 major cities engaged in efforts to combat climate change) developed a list of best practices based on case studies of strategies. Boosting ability to provide clean energy, transportation, food, water and waste disposal will be key strategies to ensuring a brighter future for mankind. It is people who ultimately make a city sustainable or not-In Tokyo, pipes are regularly checked and leaks can be sealed the same day they are identified.
C: Write a reaction paragraph to the article stating your own thoughts on the topic, using specific citations from the article to support your views
After reading this article I learned many things about our modern cities and about future cities. Creation of the state-of-the-art eco-city called Dongtan on China's Chongming Island was supposed to be built. If eco-cities were successful, the effect on overall energy use and emissions would be minimal, because the vast majority of urbanites would still live in existing cities. All the reasons suggest that we cannot rely on new construction to address challenges of feeding, housing and transporting urban population in ecologically sound ways. Instead of spewing 1.7 billion metric tons of CO2 a year, the electric car proposed for Fujisawa City would produce no tailpipe emissions. Ensuring that sustainable supply of freshwater continues to flow in urban populations is another daunting task facing the international community. Boosting ability to provide clean energy, transportation, food, water and waste disposal will be key strategies to ensuring a brighter future for mankind. It is people who ultimately make a city sustainable or not-In Tokyo, pipes are regularly checked and leaks can be sealed the same day they are identified.
So What?
Cities need to make changes in order to make there cities more eco friendly
Says Who?
David Biello
What if....?
What if we knew all about this back then? What if we created c40 in the past?
What does this remind me of?
This reminds me of changes we make to our lives in order to make them better
-Creation of the state-of-the-art eco-city called Dongtan on China's Chongming Island was supposed to be built
-The island remains to be unbuilt
-It was originally slated for completion in 2010 but has not proceeded construction in 2009
-It is one of the numerous planned eco-cities that have fizzled due to the cost
-If eco-cities were successful, the effect on overall energy use and emissions would be minimal, because the vast majority of urbanites would still live in existing cities
-All the reasons suggest that we cannot rely on new construction to address challenges of feeding, housing and transporting urban population in ecologically sound ways
-The solution to the problem needs to take the future into account
-Cities today are greener than suburbs
-Urbanites use less energy and emit less CO per household than suburban counterparts because they live in closer quarters and use public transportation
-Metropolises will not be able to sustain themselves if left to operate on a business as usual basis
-Demand for resources will oustrip supply as number of people inhabiting cities swells from more than three billion to more than six billion by 2050
-New cities could have sustainability built in their infrastructure from the start
-Larger payoffs would come from retrofitting existing cities for sustainability
-Working with existing cities can be less costly than rebuilding cities from scratch. It could save enormous amounts of energy and water
-To meet these objectives, people could take good ideas from planned eco-cities that succeed as incubators for innovation.
-Simple changes can go a long way toward helping cities support us in the future.
-A key priority for cities adapting to a world transformed by global warming is increasing energy efficiency
-A major focus is equipping old buildings with energy-efficient features.
-Existing cities can benefit from installing transportation systems meant for eco-cities.
-Instead of spewing 1.7 billion metric tons of CO2 a year, the electric car proposed for Fujisawa City would produce no tailpipe emissions.
-Simple changes like converting buses to run on compressed natural gas can clean up the air and improve efficiency.
-Cities must not only conserve energy and limit emissions, but also diversify their energy supply.
-Ensuring that sustainable supply of freshwater continues to flow in urban populations is another daunting task facing the international community.
-Large swathes of the world are pushing limits of water availability.
-To help cities conserve, C40( a planning group for 59 major cities engaged in efforts to combat climate change) developed a list of best practices based on case studies of strategies.
-Austin, TX offers a number of incentives to curb water use, including rebates for installing rainwater harvesting systems.
-Water also needs to be clean.
-Meeting this objective will mean not maintaining the status quo but vastly improving on it.
-1/3 of city dwellers live in the slums, which lack access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
-Poor waste management is not just a problem for water quality
-Even better than disposing of waste or recycling it is to make something useful from it.
-Cities will need cutting-edge technology to help achieve their long-term sustainability goals.
-Policy tweaks and low-tech solutions can play an important role.
-The real battle to make existing cities such as NY more sustainable may be won in the minds of superintendents managing the metropolis's one million buildings.
-Concepts are spreading worldwide thanks to organizations such as C40
-Boosting ability to provide clean energy, transportation, food, water and waste disposal will be key strategies to ensuring a brighter future for mankind
-When it comes to eco-cities, efforts too often prioritize aesthetics over the real-world needs of people
-It is people who ultimately make a city sustainable or not-In Tokyo, pipes are regularly checked and leaks can be sealed the same day they are identified
B: Summarize the AUTHOR’s main point or idea- at LEAST 1-2 paragraphs
In this article the author talks about modern cities. Creation of the state-of-the-art eco-city called Dongtan on China's Chongming Island was supposed to be built. If eco-cities were successful, the effect on overall energy use and emissions would be minimal, because the vast majority of urbanites would still live in existing cities. All the reasons suggest that we cannot rely on new construction to address challenges of feeding, housing and transporting urban population in ecologically sound ways. Demand for resources will oustrip supply as number of people inhabiting cities swells from more than three billion to more than six billion by 2050. Larger payoffs would come from retrofitting existing cities for sustainability. A key priority for cities adapting to a world transformed by global warming is increasing energy efficiency. Instead of spewing 1.7 billion metric tons of CO2 a year, the electric car proposed for Fujisawa City would produce no tailpipe emissions. Ensuring that sustainable supply of freshwater continues to flow in urban populations is another daunting task facing the international community. To help cities conserve, C40( a planning group for 59 major cities engaged in efforts to combat climate change) developed a list of best practices based on case studies of strategies. Boosting ability to provide clean energy, transportation, food, water and waste disposal will be key strategies to ensuring a brighter future for mankind. It is people who ultimately make a city sustainable or not-In Tokyo, pipes are regularly checked and leaks can be sealed the same day they are identified.
C: Write a reaction paragraph to the article stating your own thoughts on the topic, using specific citations from the article to support your views
After reading this article I learned many things about our modern cities and about future cities. Creation of the state-of-the-art eco-city called Dongtan on China's Chongming Island was supposed to be built. If eco-cities were successful, the effect on overall energy use and emissions would be minimal, because the vast majority of urbanites would still live in existing cities. All the reasons suggest that we cannot rely on new construction to address challenges of feeding, housing and transporting urban population in ecologically sound ways. Instead of spewing 1.7 billion metric tons of CO2 a year, the electric car proposed for Fujisawa City would produce no tailpipe emissions. Ensuring that sustainable supply of freshwater continues to flow in urban populations is another daunting task facing the international community. Boosting ability to provide clean energy, transportation, food, water and waste disposal will be key strategies to ensuring a brighter future for mankind. It is people who ultimately make a city sustainable or not-In Tokyo, pipes are regularly checked and leaks can be sealed the same day they are identified.
So What?
Cities need to make changes in order to make there cities more eco friendly
Says Who?
David Biello
What if....?
What if we knew all about this back then? What if we created c40 in the past?
What does this remind me of?
This reminds me of changes we make to our lives in order to make them better