Urban meltdown : cities, climate change and politics as usual / Clive Doucet.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Doucet, Clive.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Global warming--Political aspects.

Global warming.

Climatic changes.

Municipal government.

Urbanization--Environmental aspects.

Urbanization.

City planning--Environmental aspects.

City planning.

Environmental degradation.

Physical Description:

xix, 251 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Gabriola Island, BC : New Society Publishers, [2007]

Summary:

Poet, city councillor and urban activist, Clive Doucet provides a razor-sharp insider's perspective into how explosive urban growth is accelerating global warming, and why political action seems paralyzed. Faced with powerful lobby groups and re-election pressures, many elected officials have pushed environmental issues onto the back burner. In Urban Meltdown, Clive goes toe-to-toe with the system, pointing out critical issues that must be addressed: Economic growth has no built-in environmental accountability, Political attitudes about the progress model and growth itself have to change, New governance is needed at all levels.

And in case we are fooled into thinking current political interest in environmental issues will guarantee effective change, Clive reminds us that the movement of the 1960s almost succeeded in leading us on a different path, but failed. Why? Not for lack of inspired leadership, but because the system wouldn't permit it. Urban Meltdown reveals, castigates and inspires. This is an important book for anyone who cares about thinking differently, acting differently and making a real difference.

Contents:

Part I A Poet Goes to City Hall 1

1 Global Cities and Horse and Buggy Nations 3

2 Neighborhoods to Love 11

3 The Barbell Society and Just-in-Time Delivery 25

4 From Mont Tremblant to Ski Tremblant 37

5 Along Bayswater Street 43

6 Urban Villages 47

7 It ain't Planning. It's Politics 57

8 Citizenship versus Faithship 65

Part II The Idea of Progress and Why We Got it Wrong 71

9 The Mayor of Hiroshima and Intimations of God 73

10 The Idea of Progress and the First Nations 79

11 Biological and Social Phase Transitions 89

12 Cod, Government and the Transpiration Cycle 99

13 Care of the Soul/Care of the City/Care for the Planet 105

14 1984-2004: Poets and Visions 111

15 Cape Breton Beaches and the Gulf of Mexico 117

Part III Trying to Create a New Order of Things 121

16 The Rise of Cities and Decline of the Planet 123

17 689 Spadina and Coming of Age in Toronto 143

18 The 1960s: A global paradigm shift that never happened and how the same pattern is repeating itself 161

19 The World Social Forum II and Trying to Change Things 183

20 The World Social Forum III and Failing to Change Things 189

21 Saving the World with Stephen Lewis? 195

22 The Bush Bubble Comes to Ottawa 203

23 Jean de La Fontaine 207

24 Cities, Climate Change and Politics as Usual 215.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-245) and index.

ISBN:

9780865715844

086571584X

OCLC:

86226079