Why Urbanites Make the Best Use of Environmental Resources
Rohit "Rit" Aggarwala leads the environmental program at Bloomberg Philanthropies. Previously, he was chief advisor to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on environmental policy, and led the development and implementation of the justly heralded PlaNYC. He also assisted Mayor Bloomberg on New York’s participation in C40 Cities, "a network of large and engaged cities from around the world" that are addressing solutions to climate change. Bloomberg is the current chair of C40.
In this short video produced by Gen/Connect, Aggarwala succinctly makes the point that city dwellers are the most efficient users of environmental resources. As I have opined before, I think he’s right. He also stresses that, to make the most of the urban dividend for sustainability, we need our cities to be safe and clean. Enjoy:
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Steve Eng.
This post originally appeared on the NRDC's Switchboard blog.
Kaid Benfield is the director of the Sustainable Communities program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an adjunct professor at the George Washington University School of Law, co-founder of the LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system, and co-founder of Smart Growth America coalition, and author of several books on cities, smart growth and sprawl.
Watch for Kaid’s forthcoming book,
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