Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
In Curitiba, virtually all households have electric-
ity, drinking water, and trash collection. About 95% of
its citizens can read and write, and 83% of adults have
at least a high school education. All schoolchildren
study ecology.
This global model of urban planning and sustain-
ability is the brainchild of architect and former college
teacher Jaime Lerner, who has served as Curitiba's
mayor three times since 1969. Under his leadership,
the municipal government dedicated itself to two
goals.
First,
it sought solutions to problems that are
simple, innovative, fast, cheap, and fun.
Second,
the
government vowed to be honest, accountable, and
open to public scrutiny.
An exciting challenge during this century will be
to reshape existing cities and design new ones like
Curitiba that are more livable and sustainable and
have a lower environmental impact.
7.
If you were in charge of Mexico City, what are the
three most important things you would do?
8.
Do you believe the United States or the country where
you live should develop a comprehensive and integrated
mass transit system over the next 20 years, including
building an efficient rapid-rail network for travel within
and between its major cities? How would you pay for
such a system?
9.
If you own a car or hope to own one, what conditions,
if any, would encourage you to rely less on the automo-
bile and to travel to school or work by bicycle, on foot, by
mass transit, or by a carpool or vanpool?
10.
Some analysts suggest phasing out federal, state,
and government subsidies that encourage sprawl from
building roads, single-family housing, and large malls
and superstores. These would be replaced by subsidies
that encourage walking and bicycle paths, multifamily
housing, high-density residential development, and
development with a mix of housing, shops, and offices
(mixed-use development). Do you support this ap-
proach? Explain.
11.
Congratulations! You are in charge of the world. List
the three most important features of your
(a)
population
policy and
(b)
urban policy.
The city is not an ecological monstrosity. It is rather the place
where both the problems and the opportunities of modern
technological civilization are most potent and visible.
P
ETER
S
ELF
CRITICAL THINKING
1.
Why is it rational for a poor couple in a developing
country such as India to have four or five children? What
changes might induce such a couple to consider their be-
havior irrational?
LEARNING ONLINE
The website for this topic includes review questions for
the entire chapter, flash cards for key terms and concepts,
a multiple-choice practice quiz, interesting Internet sites,
references, and a guide for accessing thousands of
InfoTrac
®
College Edition articles.
Visit
2.
Identify a major local, national, or global environmen-
tal problem, and describe the role of population growth
in this problem.
3.
Suppose that all women in the world today began
bearing children at the replacement-level fertility rate of
2.1 children per woman. Explain why this would not im-
mediately stop global population growth. Roughly how
long would it take for population growth to stabilize (as-
suming death rates do not rise)?
4.
Do you believe that the population is too high in
(a)
your own country and
(b)
the area where you live?
Explain.
http://biology.brookscole.com/miller11
Then choose Chapter 7, and select a learning resource. For
access to animations, additional quizzes, chapter outlines
and summaries, register and log in to
at
esnow.brookscole.com/miller11
using the access code
card in the front of your topic.
5.
Should everyone have the right to have as many chil-
dren as they want? Explain.
6.
How environmentally sustainable is the area where
you live? List five ways to make it more environmentally
sustainable.
Active Graphing
Visit
http://esnow.brookscole.com/miller11
to
explore the graphing exercise for this chapter.
