Friday, November 6, 2009
Al Gore on rural-urban difference and climate change
Listen here to an interview with Al Gore on NPR's "All Things Considered." Several references are made to rural-urban difference with respect to climate change, including the suggestion that urbanization may increase an individual's carbon footprint--particularly in the developing world, where it is associated with industrialization and consumerism. Of course, Gore points out that the opposite may be true in the developed world, where urban dwellers tendency to live more compactly and have fewer children reduces the carbon footprint.
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In addition to rural communities contributing to climate change, it is interesting to think of how climate change will affect rural places. Because many rural industries rely on the natural environment, such as agricultural and extractive industries, rural economies may be more hampered by climate change in the future than their urban counterparts. Rural America has larger populations of senior citizens and the poor than urban places as well, making them less mobile in the event of a natural disaster or shifting employment patterns that would necessitate a move away from their communities.
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