City and Environment Clippinger 119 Tuesday and Thursday, 1-3 p.m. As concentrations of people, objects, and activities, cities place great demands on the natural environment.
Urban areas consume large amounts of resources and generate considerable amounts of waste.
The impact of consumption and waste stretches distances well beyond city limits, the extent of which is often called the ecological footprint. Smog from Los Angeles is sometimes detected as far away as the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Purchasing bananas at the local grocery store impacts the environment, and people s lives, thousands of miles away where they are grown. Starting a car contributes to global warming and affects weather patterns around the globe. Junking an old car releases freon from cooling systems and contributes to the thinning of stratospheric ozone.