Are we really living a “good, sustainable, and happy” life? After reading Hope, Human, and Wild written by Bill McKibben I'm seeing new light on the development of cities and how to keep pollution levels low. In the second chapter of his book, Bill introduces a city in South America, Brazil called Curitiba. He explains how this city can satisfy the environment and humans.
Curitiba expands its city into it’s surrounding environment without doing harm, it does so through different practices. This is great for the wildlife in the area, instead of destroying the homes of animals that live there, they share, preserve, and interact with it.
Clean up programs in Curitiba are also spot on. This is because the citizens and the government work together to solve issues. The government provides food to families depending on the amount of trash they collect through the city. Not only does this program help the hungry families, but it also cleans up their city and prevents trash and pollutants from getting deep into the environment.
Transportation also tends to lead to high pollution levels, however Curitiba has very low pollutant levels. They do so by having a well thought out public transportation system, that sufficiently traffics buses and rail cars throughout the city. By having a quick and easy public transport, the rate of privately owned cars goes down. This all in all reduces the amount of exhaust released into the circulating air.
Bill not only has brought to attention great ideas, but he also seems to be a great writer. He has made me realize that we need to start working with our city environment to make it better for our whole environment, not only man kind.
If you would like to learn more about Hope, Human, and WIld or other books written by Bill, follow the link to his website. http://www.billmckibben.com/hope-human-and-wild.html
No comments:
Post a Comment