Forbes reports that faced with the hugh investment required to expand Mexico City's infrastructure to accommodate significantly more growth, officials there have decided to use subisidies to encourage people to move elsewhere. According to Forbes, "'The plan is to curtail the growth of Mexico City (instead of facing it head on), ' says Owen Gutfreund, director of urban studies at Columbia University. That's not a bad approach, he figures, compared with the alternative: seeing the city's populati… Continue

"Growth has been the chief defining characteristic of our industrial economy. In the simpleminded commentary of the news business, growth is good (prosperity) and nongrowth is bad (depression). The more growth, the more business, the more prosperity, and vice versa. ... The boosters of this particular notion of growth -- namely, most mainstream economists -- do not recognize any limits to growth projected into the future. They'd prefer not to think about it because the conclusion is obvious: The… Continue

Faced with the potential of future water shortages, a majority of residents in Pheonix, Arizona favour population growth controls, a local newspaper has learned. In a survey of 3000 area residents, the Arizona Daily Star found that 55% were opposed to continued population growth. Sixty-seven percent of respondents expressed that fewer homes should be built and 71% favoured placing limits on building permits to conserve water. For the complete survey visit http://growth.azstarnet.com/result/surve… Continue

Further to my last post, here is an excellent article by Dr. Glen Barry that addresses the ubiquitous greenwashing of the destructive environmental practices prevalent in our society today. Dr. Barry clearly identifies the environmental crisis that we are in and condemns the half-measures that are being proposed to deal with it as being inadequate. He concludes that "To maintain a livable Earth there is no alternative to less people and consumption..." Cut and paste the following into your brows… Continue

In many communities such as the one where I live, growth controls are considered to be draconian measures that go against the principles of a free market economy. Residents of such communities that think of themselves as being progressively minded thus eschew such controls in favour of "green" development and advocate measures like LEED certified construction as a means to achieving sustainability. In an excellent article posted on his blog, John Van Doren explodes the myth that such green cons… Continue