Does being concerned about global warming but still living in an urban area make you a hypocrite?

Question

If you believe that manmade pollution is causing global warming, then it only make logical sense that the single greatest source of man's carbon footpring comes from the heavilly populated urban areas. That's where pollution occurs at such high levels that the environment never gets a chance to recover.

After a hot day, temps drop in the suburbs and rural areas, but stay high in the cities. Concrete, blacktop, glass, metal, it all retains the heat. Smog is so thick it almost never disperses, and sewage output is huge. No wonder ocean water around cities is always brown and yellow.

Crude oil trickles from the ocean floor but nature can handle it and within hours, it's gone. A tanker bursts in Alaska and it takes years to clean up. It's just a volume thing.

The air is cleaner where there are less people together. So it stands to reason that if you care about the planet, you won't live in an urban city area. Otherwise, you are part of the problem. Sorry. It's true.

Mr. Jello, if you were right, cities would be the ultimate clean green spaces. But they aren't! Mass transit diesel fumes, airports belching jet exhaust, huge A/C units atop buildings delivering hot air, etc. When I was in NYC for a few years, I took the subway. The amount of filth that would accumulate on your SKIN from just a few moments outside or in the hot subway air was horrible.

And did you ever see NYC or LA or Miami from a cruise ship? I have. OMG, they actually have brown DOMES of filth around them! It was disgusting.

Compare that to the environment near Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina, or the TN Smokey Mountains, or the rolling hills of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The cities are causing pollution. If they didn't exist, the suburb traffic wouldn't be heading in to them. Everyone could work locally.

Answer 1

i personally am not concerned about global warming

Answer 2

Sorry to be so blunt--but that is nonsense. Pollution--the smog and CO2--comes from how we produce and use energy--not from urban concentrations.

Spreading out even more--essentially what you are suggesting--woulld only make things wors by increasing the need for transportation. As well as creating more demand for land and water use use in an already stressed ecology and losing still more habitat for wildlife

Here's what CAN be done--and in this regard, urbanization is potentially an asset , not a liability.
>Shft to a national policy promoting public transit instead of cars in urban areas.
>Focus on increasing fuel efficiency in cars (we could cut demand for automobile gasolineIN HALF just by doing this).
>That's an interim measure--we need to develop existing technologies--probably electric or hydrogen--for cars; that makes their environmental impact negligable.
>Push development of solar, wind, and other clean energy sources.
>shift to energy-efficient technologies where we can--and that's a LOT. Much of this--like compact flourescent bulbs--also save consumers money--and a general change in this one product alone is the equivalent of 50-75 coal-burning powrplants.

The urban dweler is potentially the MOST, not the least, environmentally person--making efficient use of space, needing totravel less distance, stressing the envionment less, etc.

I live in a city. Our household bought 10 gallons of gas last month--and thats about average. We take the subway; we live in a neighborhood where everything is in walking distance--and the neighbor hood is designed for people, not cars--we have sidewalks, not freeway interchanges, "walking" shopping districts, not shopping malls.

Answer 3

ok first, yes there is global warming, but if you look back through history, this is a repeated cycle our planet goes through. yes we are damaging our planet with our huge cities and whatnot, but if people started to dissburse to less populated areas, where are the trees goin to grow? Where are the animals goin to live? Where is the your electric goin to come from? Where are your building supplies goin to come from?
And truth be told, we are a problem no matter where you live. unless you are "green" living, than you create a problem with everything you do.
Very simple things to do to help, get new long lasting light bulbs. If everyone on one city block changed their lightbulbs to the long lasting bulbs, they would reduce their energy bills by 40%! Unplug all things that you dont use or need all day. Even if it's off it is still sucking up energy. Update your appliences to energy efficient ones. RECYCLE!!! Buy local grown food, and if that's not possible, buy american made. Why? first of all our american farmers live to a much higher standard than many other countries. Granted you have to buy a few things from other countries, but our country in itself can provide for all our needs, people just tend to buy the cheaper best deal. buyin things from lets say China only promotes their economy which allows them to continue to mass produce products. These plants are not monitored as ours are. Research products you want to purchase.

Answer 4

Per capita, New York city residents are among the lowest polluters in the country making it one of our greenest cities. Therefore you're argument is completely backwards. By having more people living in cities, and leaving as much area outside of cities alone, nature as a whole benefits. And, due to their high concentrations, cities allow decreased use of resources, as well as a breeding ground for the arts, science, technology, and new ideas.

Answer 5

Sorry,I believe you are wrong. Cities are the most efficient place to live as shops, work, and entertainment are either in walking distance, or accessible via mass transit. In the burbs, people have to drive everywhere.

The sad thing is that because of gvmt ruralification programs, cities are taxed to provide the burbs with the modern technology found in the cities.

This creates urban sprawl and gridlocks our highways twice a day, turning them into parking lots.

We should end these programs and let people move back to the cities if they need the benefits that cities provide.

Answer 6

Keep grasping at straws, Bobby. Maybe one day you will find one that works, or not! Sooner or later you will realize the earth has been in a warming up trend for over 16,000 years and man had little to do with it. You warmers just love cherry picking short term data to hide the long term trends.

Answer 7

Claiming to be concerned about Global Warming and NOT:

having your car crushed and made into hand tools (can't sell it... someone else would drive it and pollute)
Disconnecting from the power grid
Going back to farming your own food in your back yard. (no bug sprays allowed)
Using an old fashioned un-powered reel push-mower for the lawn
Disconnecting from the Internet.. and having your computer recycled (into un-powered reel mowers)

Makes you a hypocrite.

Answer 8

Well, I'd say no, I don't believe in golbal warming.

Now don't get me wrong, I know humans are polluting the earth, But I also know we aren't to big of a problem, contrary to what most "experts" say.

Now, I haven't traveled very much, but everywhere around Houston (Oil Capitol of the USA), water is crystal clear.

Answer 9

If you believe in man made global warming and it is a concern to you, then by you getting up in the morning makes you a hypocrite. every time you breathe, you are emitting CO2.

Let me give you some advice, don't believe this global warming crap, it's nothing more than a political agenda.

Answer 10

Living rural is always better. Or, you could be as environmentally correct as possible while living urban. Set an example in the city on how to reduce carbon footprints.

Answer 11

Here is our predicament: Picture a baskeball. A basketball soaked in honey, the placed on a hard surface outside. The ants would eventually get to be so many on it they would start to fall off. This is likened unto this planet, but since the atmoshpere wont let us 'fall' off then the global warming effect is taking over & there aint a thing we can do. It s way too late