History of urban growth humans live in cities Next century 75 will live in cities Cities present a dramatic change in history but the concept of a city has existed for 10 000 years Resources Resources useful Not Resources not useful Resource thinking relies on dualism and hierarchy that places people outside of and above nature Environmental protection and jobs Ecological Services Use capitalism to protect environment and puts a dollar value on the environment Population Characteristics of urban centers 1900 13 cities had 1 million 2007 300 cities had 1 million 2005 93 cities have 5 million Intangible resource A resource that exists in abstraction Most intangible resources cannot be measured with currency Internal vs external costs An external cost disregards and discounts resources or goods that contribute to produce something but for which the producer does not actually pay Examples Pollution Poverty Systematic Risk Benefits of green business Urban agglomeration Public Relations Cost Savings A healthier Workplace Tax Credits High Consumer Demand In the study of human settlements an urban agglomeration is an extended city or town area comprising the built up area of a central place usually a municipality and any suburbs linked by continuous urban area Ex South Florida North Florida The outward spreading of a cities borders into more rural areas Jacksonville FL has accumulated a large land area due to urban sprawl Urban sprawl Megacity A city with a population of over 10 million people Efficiently consume inconceivable amounts of resources Push vs pull factors for urban immigration Mechanization eliminates jobs in rural areas and drives people into urban areas Cities offer jobs better housing and entertainment Government Policies often favor urban over rural areas Rural Areas offer a lifestyle that Urban areas cannot provide Tragedy of the commons Tragedy existence of a No Man s Land No one controls the resources because there are no rights to property Underestimates the people s ability to share Solutions Government regulated lands and private ownership New urbanism and city size The idea of moving people back into the mid city and making living in the midcity comfortable Limit city size to 30 000 50 000 people Criminal vs Civil Penalties Civil Penalty when a state entity government agency or private party seeks monetary relief against an individual as restitution by the individual for wrongdoing Criminal Penalty Penalty enforced upon those that do not obey the criminal law UN Convention on Law of the Sea UNCLOS and the US Suggests a 200 mile buffer on the coast of a country in which only that country may use for resources The US abides by UNCLOS but has not signed it Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species CITES Regulates the trade of endangered species Requires documentation on endangered animals group of ten environmental organizations Largest and most successful environmental organizations including Defenders of Wildlife Environmental Defense Fund National Audubon Society National Wildlife Federation Natural Resources Defense Council Friends of the Earth Izaak Walton League Sierra Club The Wilderness Society and the World Wide Fund for Nature Endangered Species Act Critical habitat A large area protected by the ESA Provides rules for protecting an animal and its habitat Conspicuous consumption Spending on goods and services that serve no purpose other than to display one s wealth or status Clean Water Act 1972 Superfund Act 1980 Great example of successful legislation Aimed to make the US waters swimmable and fishable A list of hazardous sites A giant fund to help remediate abandoned toxic sites Allows the EPA to establish liability Ex Cascade Park Original Greenpeace voyage Took place in 1971 and aimed to prevent nuclear testing on Alaskan islands Citizens United vs Federal Elections Commission Decision in 2010 that prohibited the government from censoring political broadcasts in candidate elections when those broadcasts are funded by corporations or unions Clean Air Act 1970 1st major environmental legislation to follow National Environmental Policy Agency 1st nationally standardized rule involving the environment National Environmental Policy Act Basics Cornerstone of US environmental policy Authorizes the council on environmental quality the oversight board for general environmental conditions Citizen Science Help make policies Protest Join an Environmental Organization Think Tanks A hired group of experts that conducts research Ambiguous untrammeled by man A prime example of how the legislative branch uses vague terms in creating the laws which are eventually interpreted by the judicial branch