ENVS 1000 Lecture 1: Green Metropolis Notes
13 Dec 2016
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● New York is a model of environmental responsibility
● Greenest community in the US
● Average new yorker consumes gasoline at a rate that the country hasn’t matched since
the 1920’s.
● 82% of employed new yorkers travel by public transit, bicycle, or foot (10x the rate of
other americans)
● Generates less greenhouse gases than any other american city
● It’s compactness leads to its sustainability, sharply reduces opportunities to be wasteful,
encourages people to keep their families small, and forces people to live in energy-
efficient apartment buildings.
● Suburban households have a higher electricity consumption
● Non-city homes force people to use cars because there is no public transportation
● New Yorkers pollute, consume, and throw away much less than the average american
because of their densely packed lifestyle which reduces the possibilities for reckless
consumption
● Car ownership is a burden for most in NYC
● Spreading people thinly across the countryside may make them feel greener, but it
actually increases the damage they do to the environment
● The most energy-efficient and least automobile-dependent cities in the world are in Asia
● Though the density of the city and its man made qualities make it kind of depressing,
creating more space around buildings would undermine the qualities that make the city
so efficient
● Trees aren’t ecologically important in dense urban areas because they provide
atmospheric carbon, but because their presence makes city dwellers more cheerful
about being in cities.
● The way americans live now is unsustainable because we are rapidly depleting our
natural resources
● Sustainability is a context, not a gadget or technology
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
New york is a model of environmental responsibility. Average new yorker consumes gasoline at a rate that the country hasn"t matched since the 1920"s. 82% of employed new yorkers travel by public transit, bicycle, or foot (10x the rate of other americans) Generates less greenhouse gases than any other american city. It"s compactness leads to its sustainability, sharply reduces opportunities to be wasteful, encourages people to keep their families small, and forces people to live in energy- efficient apartment buildings. Suburban households have a higher electricity consumption. Non-city homes force people to use cars because there is no public transportation. New yorkers pollute, consume, and throw away much less than the average american because of their densely packed lifestyle which reduces the possibilities for reckless consumption. Car ownership is a burden for most in nyc. Spreading people thinly across the countryside may make them feel greener, but it actually increases the damage they do to the environment.
