8
1.3.4.2 Urbanization
More than half of the world’s population live in cities today. As the world continues
to urbanize, in order to support billions more people, we will do nearly anything to
continue keep the fires burning for our families and ourselves. Viable human settlements have always needed fire in order to exist. But the type, quantity, and byproducts of the “fire” we now use have far-reaching environmental implications.
Without the continuous burning needed to house and feed people; to heat and
cool our homes; and to make, transport, and store our daily necessities, every major
city in the United States today would be either uncomfortable or completely uninhabitable for at least part of the year.
1
As the burning continues and increases to
power nearly every growing hamlet, village, town, and city around the globe, we are
witnessing global-scale changes affecting the fundamental conditions on which
most life depends.
1 The only exceptions of which I am aware may arguably be San Diego, Los Angeles, and Long
Branch, CA. These Southern California cities current temperate climate could support a small fraction of the US population without relying on the fruits of technology to maintain year-round thermal comfort. However, abundant fresh drinking water, a steady food supply, advanced medicine,
and all other technology-dependent basic systems would still require energy to function.
Fig. 1.3 A coal power
plant in Datteln, Germany.
Per capita energy
consumption rose by 33
percent between 1990 and
2005. Between 2005 and
2030, per capita energy
consumption is expected to
increase another 18
percent, meaning that
global consumption will
rise by 50 percent. The
majority (86 percent) of
the world’s energy needs
are met by fossil fuels.
(Photo Credit: Arnold Paul
| Wikimedia Commons)
1 Do Nothing: The Danger of Believing in a World Without Limits
1.3.4.2 Urbanization
More than half of the world’s population live in cities today. As the world continues
to urbanize, in order to support billions more people, we will do nearly anything to
continue keep the fires burning for our families and ourselves. Viable human settlements have always needed fire in order to exist. But the type, quantity, and byproducts of the “fire” we now use have far-reaching environmental implications.
Without the continuous burning needed to house and feed people; to heat and
cool our homes; and to make, transport, and store our daily necessities, every major
city in the United States today would be either uncomfortable or completely uninhabitable for at least part of the year.
1
As the burning continues and increases to
power nearly every growing hamlet, village, town, and city around the globe, we are
witnessing global-scale changes affecting the fundamental conditions on which
most life depends.
1 The only exceptions of which I am aware may arguably be San Diego, Los Angeles, and Long
Branch, CA. These Southern California cities current temperate climate could support a small fraction of the US population without relying on the fruits of technology to maintain year-round thermal comfort. However, abundant fresh drinking water, a steady food supply, advanced medicine,
and all other technology-dependent basic systems would still require energy to function.
Fig. 1.3 A coal power
plant in Datteln, Germany.
Per capita energy
consumption rose by 33
percent between 1990 and
2005. Between 2005 and
2030, per capita energy
consumption is expected to
increase another 18
percent, meaning that
global consumption will
rise by 50 percent. The
majority (86 percent) of
the world’s energy needs
are met by fossil fuels.
(Photo Credit: Arnold Paul
| Wikimedia Commons)
1 Do Nothing: The Danger of Believing in a World Without Limits