Cities are a cancer on the Earth. Like cancer they grow exponentially. From space, satellite images show that this growth pattern strongly resembles that of cancer. They also create carcinogenic pollution. Our mother is on her deathbed, and is in dire need of a cure in this eleventh hour. The majority of the world’s population is urban, a population that recently toped seven billion (Gale). The demand for resources to support the inner city inhabitants is rapidly outpacing the supply. Furthermore, excessive carbon emissions from energy production, manufacturing, agriculture, and transportation, (all to supply these tumor like growths) is wreaking havoc on the all-important climate. Record temperatures, acidified seas and rain, bleached reefs, devastating tornados in unprecedented numbers, loss of pack ice and tundra, extinctions on a comparable scale to the “Great Dying” of the Cenozoic period: these problems and more stem from the runaway greenhouse gas effect of copious carbon dioxide and methane by-products of globalized supply chain infrastructures for the metropolitan plague.
At this point, the carbon emissions, urban heat-sink (heat trapped by blacktop and concrete), and deforestation have already begun a potentially terminal avalanche of destruction. As temperatures continue to climb, rainfall drops off. While there is more evaporated water in the atmosphere, which can create increased snowfall, precipitation overall, especially in the summer and tropics, is decreased. The ensuing droughts provoke photorespiration: a defensive reaction in plant life, which begin to close their stomata in order to conserve water. This leads to a buildup of oxygen in the leaves, and plants so affected switch from consuming carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, to consuming oxygen, and producing carbon dioxide. Obviously the widespread switch to photorespiration would be a devastating turn of events. When other factors, such as the diminished capacity of the oceans and soil to absorb carbon are considered, the overall diagnosis is grim indeed. At the recent climate conference in Durban, Africa, Keith Allott, Head of Climate Change at WWF-UK, said: "Governments have salvaged a path forward for negotiations, but we must be under no illusion - the outcome of Durban leaves us with the prospect of being legally bound to a world of 4C warming” (Beament). The efforts of global leaders to address this issue have ineffectual, at best, with this latest attempt in Durban ending with little actually accomplished after most of the representatives backed out. Following the failures in Kyoto and Copenhagen it becomes clear that an international agreement is unlikely. However, more than a thousand mayors of US cities have signed onto the US Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, committing their cities to abide by the terms of Kyoto (Gale).
The remedy for city spawned climate change will have to be very holistic. Technology for better, more fuel efficient, means of transportation exists, for both metropolitan buses and railways, and for personal vehicles. The problem of logistics must be stressed and local commerce encouraged over imports that waste vast amounts of energy, at high environmental cost. Green-houses and roof-top gardens can provide an ample supply of produce. Fisheries can ensure safe and easy seafood. Free-range livestock can organically fertilize fields if rotated, and pose no risk of adverse health effects. Room for pastures or fisheries in proximity to the cities supersedes suburbs in importance, and should be zoned as farmland instead of lawns and pools. Renewable energy can be harnessed from wind and ocean currents as long as they still follow historic patterns. Also the sun, biomass, and geothermal power is available everywhere. The closer the source is, the less the loss is.
It is said that these changes will require too much capital, and that money could be better spent on projects that will generate more profits for the wealthy. The cheap solution to the inevitable food, housing, and energy shortages of a population explosion is nuclear war. Monitor those free radicals.
