Save our cities
In the United States, over 120 million people drive alone to work every day according to the 2009 census. Those 120 million people drive an average of 5 miles a day to and from work. In the U.S alone, 12,442,995 tons of carbon dioxide are emitted per day from transportation. Most of this emittance occurs in the metropolitan areas of the U.S. Even while public transportation is available, only 10 million people use it to get to work on a daily basis.
Cars are great for the average American, yet they are an elephant dart to the environments face. Of the 12,442,995 tons of carbon dioxide emitted per day, 70% is burnt in metropolitan areas close to the city. My abstract concerns the city layout that most efficiently gets people from their point of origins to their destinations. I will be testing three commonly used layouts; the grid, concentric circles, and natural city layouts.
The grid is used in most cities in America, the only two cities with a recognized ‘perfect’ grid are Phoenix, and Chicago. 8 blocks per mile with all interstates intersecting at 45 degrees. The average commute time in Chicago is 31 minutes, Chicago has a population of 2.7 million, and a working population of 1.23 million. 324,301 people take transit and 627,713 driving alone. 24,616 people ride bikes or take the taxi. Phoenix’s average transit time is 23 minutes and has a population of 1.49 million (689,801 people working) . 503,554 people drove alone to and from work, 26,762 people took public transportation and 16,592 people rode a bike or walked. The grid system is easy for the city to maintain with minimal taxes. Many people also prefer the grid to other types of layouts for navigational reasons.
The concentric circle layout is used in cities like Rochester and Moscow. The city hall is often at the center of the first circle, with other larger circles branching out and roads connecting them. Moscow has a population of 15,788,000 and a working population of 9.7 million. The average commute time is 34 minutes. 8 million people drive alone on a daily basis. Rochester’s average commute time is 21 minutes and has a population of 210,532 the working population is 79,290. Of these people 55,503 drive alone to work, and 7,929 people took public transportation. Only 1,585 people take a taxi, or ride a bike to work. Concentric circles often cause problems with creating additional city blocks. It is next to impossible to create efficient detours when parts of the road are under construction. Although, if cities are too large and create urban sprawl with excessive suburbs, the concentric circles can make commute times to and from the suburbs faster.
The final layout is a so-called 'natural' layout. These generally spring up in very old cities with little to no city planning. Two cities in the United States with natural layouts are Pawtucket, RI and Boston, MA. Boston has a population of 636,479 and a working population of 311,111. The average commute time is 25.4 minutes. Only 124,444 people drive to work while 99,555 take public transportation. The city may be so confusing to navigate that people are forced to take public transit. Pawtucket has a population of 71,170 and working population of 34,270. 27,073 people drive alone to work every day, only 4,455 people take public transportation. Natural city layouts are best for preserving the environment because blocks can be manipulated in whatever way the people choose.
Although modifying city layouts is a major step towards carbon deficiency, we must also eliminate urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is a sickness that spreads through huge cities like Mexico City and Los Angeles. Cities that are beginning to sprawl begin building outward instead of upwards. Extensive suburbs begin to blossom, sleeping towns develop. Mexico City is the most populous city in North America with 8,850,000 people living within city limits. There are 15,445 people per square mile in Mexico City. New York City has 8,337,000 people living within city limits in New York, there are 17,814 people per square mile, just 2,000 people more per square mile create a city that is 105 square miles less. More people per square mile will make cities smaller and decrease commute time thus decreasing carbon dioxide emissions.
People often live in the suburbs of the city for a ‘high quality of life’ new families move to city suburbs for larger house space and better education for their children. There are three things that cause a suburban school to offer a higher quality of learning than an urban school. The first is the characteristics of the students on a general basis, when new families are formed, most move into the suburbs of major cities to give their children more educational potential, however some families are not able to afford the expensive suburban homes and say in apartments in cities. When they send their children to public schools they do not have the same background as suburban children and may not be motivated to learn. The second distinguishing factor are the characteristics of families. Suburban families often have two parents, both who have attended college, and therefore have a higher academic expectation for their children, whereas urban families often have one parent without a stable job and therefore have a lesser academic expectation from their children. Finally, the teachers in urban setting get paid much less than teachers in suburban settings, so teachers have neither the motivation nor the experience in urban settings to keep up with suburban schools. If we were to make urban schools better than suburban schools, families would live in the inner city and be closer to jobs. Commute time would lessen, cities would increase their population density and carbon dioxide emissions would plummet. The money saved on gas would put more money into the average Americans pocket and stimulate the economy.The first step to stop climate change is to improve inner city school systems?
If people migrated back to cities, where would they live? Some families have up to four children and couldn't live in small apartments. For this dilemma, I modeled after Marina City in Chicago. These are two 587 foot tall apartment towers that house 929 people. Marina City is larger than 629 towns in Illinois. It has the population of Elkville, IL which takes up approximately one square mile. Marina City has spare room at the base of the towers for a park. The apartments are so large there that they are referred to as condos. In order to have large enough condos for families, planners could both double the height of these such buildings and double the size of the condos.
Shown below is a slideshow of Marina City
Cars are great for the average American, yet they are an elephant dart to the environments face. Of the 12,442,995 tons of carbon dioxide emitted per day, 70% is burnt in metropolitan areas close to the city. My abstract concerns the city layout that most efficiently gets people from their point of origins to their destinations. I will be testing three commonly used layouts; the grid, concentric circles, and natural city layouts.
The grid is used in most cities in America, the only two cities with a recognized ‘perfect’ grid are Phoenix, and Chicago. 8 blocks per mile with all interstates intersecting at 45 degrees. The average commute time in Chicago is 31 minutes, Chicago has a population of 2.7 million, and a working population of 1.23 million. 324,301 people take transit and 627,713 driving alone. 24,616 people ride bikes or take the taxi. Phoenix’s average transit time is 23 minutes and has a population of 1.49 million (689,801 people working) . 503,554 people drove alone to and from work, 26,762 people took public transportation and 16,592 people rode a bike or walked. The grid system is easy for the city to maintain with minimal taxes. Many people also prefer the grid to other types of layouts for navigational reasons.
The concentric circle layout is used in cities like Rochester and Moscow. The city hall is often at the center of the first circle, with other larger circles branching out and roads connecting them. Moscow has a population of 15,788,000 and a working population of 9.7 million. The average commute time is 34 minutes. 8 million people drive alone on a daily basis. Rochester’s average commute time is 21 minutes and has a population of 210,532 the working population is 79,290. Of these people 55,503 drive alone to work, and 7,929 people took public transportation. Only 1,585 people take a taxi, or ride a bike to work. Concentric circles often cause problems with creating additional city blocks. It is next to impossible to create efficient detours when parts of the road are under construction. Although, if cities are too large and create urban sprawl with excessive suburbs, the concentric circles can make commute times to and from the suburbs faster.
The final layout is a so-called 'natural' layout. These generally spring up in very old cities with little to no city planning. Two cities in the United States with natural layouts are Pawtucket, RI and Boston, MA. Boston has a population of 636,479 and a working population of 311,111. The average commute time is 25.4 minutes. Only 124,444 people drive to work while 99,555 take public transportation. The city may be so confusing to navigate that people are forced to take public transit. Pawtucket has a population of 71,170 and working population of 34,270. 27,073 people drive alone to work every day, only 4,455 people take public transportation. Natural city layouts are best for preserving the environment because blocks can be manipulated in whatever way the people choose.
Although modifying city layouts is a major step towards carbon deficiency, we must also eliminate urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is a sickness that spreads through huge cities like Mexico City and Los Angeles. Cities that are beginning to sprawl begin building outward instead of upwards. Extensive suburbs begin to blossom, sleeping towns develop. Mexico City is the most populous city in North America with 8,850,000 people living within city limits. There are 15,445 people per square mile in Mexico City. New York City has 8,337,000 people living within city limits in New York, there are 17,814 people per square mile, just 2,000 people more per square mile create a city that is 105 square miles less. More people per square mile will make cities smaller and decrease commute time thus decreasing carbon dioxide emissions.
People often live in the suburbs of the city for a ‘high quality of life’ new families move to city suburbs for larger house space and better education for their children. There are three things that cause a suburban school to offer a higher quality of learning than an urban school. The first is the characteristics of the students on a general basis, when new families are formed, most move into the suburbs of major cities to give their children more educational potential, however some families are not able to afford the expensive suburban homes and say in apartments in cities. When they send their children to public schools they do not have the same background as suburban children and may not be motivated to learn. The second distinguishing factor are the characteristics of families. Suburban families often have two parents, both who have attended college, and therefore have a higher academic expectation for their children, whereas urban families often have one parent without a stable job and therefore have a lesser academic expectation from their children. Finally, the teachers in urban setting get paid much less than teachers in suburban settings, so teachers have neither the motivation nor the experience in urban settings to keep up with suburban schools. If we were to make urban schools better than suburban schools, families would live in the inner city and be closer to jobs. Commute time would lessen, cities would increase their population density and carbon dioxide emissions would plummet. The money saved on gas would put more money into the average Americans pocket and stimulate the economy.The first step to stop climate change is to improve inner city school systems?
If people migrated back to cities, where would they live? Some families have up to four children and couldn't live in small apartments. For this dilemma, I modeled after Marina City in Chicago. These are two 587 foot tall apartment towers that house 929 people. Marina City is larger than 629 towns in Illinois. It has the population of Elkville, IL which takes up approximately one square mile. Marina City has spare room at the base of the towers for a park. The apartments are so large there that they are referred to as condos. In order to have large enough condos for families, planners could both double the height of these such buildings and double the size of the condos.
Shown below is a slideshow of Marina City
This is the TEDx talk that I gave in the Animas City Theater
Hi, my name is Quinn and I will be discussing climate change. Next Slide
What makes humans different from other animals? Personally, I see no difference between some people and monkeys at the San Diego Zoo. What is it that separates Humans from the Chimpanzee, when comparing their DNA, one finds that the genomes are 98% identical, People and Chimps share the same kingdom, phylum, class, order and family using the taxonomic classification of animals. How can we humans identify as anything other than a hairless ape? Is it that we can communicate? Is it that we can manipulate our environment around us? Between you and me, what makes humans different from any animal that we will come across is our ability to control the electron. Next slide
The electron? Its a small part of an atom. It orbits around the center of an atom much like the planets. Electrons are tiny and account for less than one eighteen thousandth of the total mass of an atom. What makes it so important? When electrons move, they create an electrical current that humans call electricity. Electricity is what distinguishes humanity from all other species. With electricity, humanity has been able to save lives, connect on a global level, and let me watch Family Guy. Electricity is nothing short of a miracle, it is humanity's greatest gift, it is humanity's greatest curse.
In 1831, there lived a very smart man named Michael Faraday, he is credited with discovering the phenomena of induction. Induction is what allows all electricity (save solar) to be created today. The process is quite simple, one needs only to turn a magnet around a conductor to ‘induce’ an electrical current in the electrons of the conductor. To spin the magnet, we have a variety of options, we can use the flow of water, the movement of air, and finally we can boil water using heat to create steam to turn a turbine. Unfortunately, we choose the latter, and to create the heat necessary to boil the water, humans burn coal and natural gas that emit carbon dioxide when set aflame.
Next Slide
Electricity was not terrible for the environment at first, many people didn’t have the money to install electricity in their homes. Only a few services were powered by electricity. There were no cars. Humanity lived much closer to our environment. Now we live in a world portrayed by a screen, left and right we turn, enslaved by smartphones, laptops, cars. We do not turn away from these technological traps, instead we actively embrace them and ignore the environmental consequences. As of this year, we have burned over 4.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide, we have cut down almost 1 million hectares of forest, and instead of switching to renewable sources of goods and electricity, we continue to depend on fossil fuels for 80% of all of our total power demands.
What I have seen over the 14 years of my life in people is a culmination of pure genius, creativity and stubborn behavior. Americans refuse to get off of their couches and turn off their televisions to listen to the sounds of their dying world. America in particular accounts for 18% of the world’s total carbon emissions, yet holds less than 5% of the total population. As a country, we have done incredible things that have changed the world, but we are needy. In fact if the whole world lived to the standards of the United States of America, we would need the resources of over five earths to sustain those standards. America is ⅕ of the reason that the earth’s energy is imbalanced. To save the earth’s future, we as a species need to decrease carbon emissions by 6% per year. The U.S plays a crucial role in this restoration. Without every human’s commitment, we may not be able to ensure a safe future for our children; grandchildren to live in.
One question remains: how? How are we to save the future of humanity, the species of this earth and the air in which we breathe? I have seen that humanity is not ready for one big step to save the world, instead, we must take a million small ones. Step number one, remember; remember the brilliance of humanity, we have survived great disasters, this is the first disaster that we can prevent. For our entire history we have merely survived, survived the black plague, survived ice ages, but we will thrive because we will stop poisoning our world.
Step two: realise, realise what we are doing to our environment. We are killing our world at the expense of that twinkie that you ‘needed’ the smartphone that you ‘can’t live without’. Realize that you can live without these.
Step three: begin. To put it frankly, humans like cars, they like driving in cars, everywhere, my family included. Even in the small town of Crested Butte, we drove our car three blocks to get from lunch to a store that we wanted to go to. Out of the 144 million people in the United States who work every day, 121 million drive alone to and from work. One does not simply deprive americans from their cars, in our current day and age, the best way of decreasing Carbon Dioxide emissions is to make people commute distances and times shorter. To go about this, we must understand why the commute distances and times are lengthy to begin with.
Next Slide
For, example, we will begin with a man,( lets name him Jim), Jim wants to go to the University of Chicago, he gets accepted and lives in the dorms of the University for four years. After graduation, Jim wants to find a job and make money, so he moves into an apartment not far from the building in which he works. For a few years Jim lives and works in downtown Chicago, then he meets a woman (we'll call her Sarah) Sarah and Jim get married, move to a bigger apartment (still in the inner city) and keep their jobs in the inner city. The new couple decides to have a child. But they don’t feel comfortable raising their child in a downtown area, after all they have no yard and the schools will not fulfill their needs, so they move into a large house in the suburbs. Now the family has a good educational future (as suburban schools are better than urban schools) and a good environment for their kid. The husband still keeps his job in downtown Chicago and everyday, he needs to commute a fairly long distance to get to this job. What method of transportation does Jim take? A car. Jim is emitting a disastrous amount of Carbon Dioxide every day. He isn’t doing anything wrong. He is only providing money for his family.
In this common situation, we can do one of two things, either improve suburban economies and include more commercial buildings in these suburbs. This option will move peoples employment closer to them and decrease commute time and distance. The other option is to improve the school systems in inner cities, build more parks, and make apartments drastically bigger, this option will keep families from moving away from the city and keep them closer to their employment. Both options will decrease overall Carbon Dioxide emissions, and both options can be done in this day and age.
Climate change is a huge issue, so huge that it outweighs the human race, it lies beyond our comprehension. We need to open our eyes, see the world as it is, and fix it.
Next Slide
To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?
Thank You
Hi, my name is Quinn and I will be discussing climate change. Next Slide
What makes humans different from other animals? Personally, I see no difference between some people and monkeys at the San Diego Zoo. What is it that separates Humans from the Chimpanzee, when comparing their DNA, one finds that the genomes are 98% identical, People and Chimps share the same kingdom, phylum, class, order and family using the taxonomic classification of animals. How can we humans identify as anything other than a hairless ape? Is it that we can communicate? Is it that we can manipulate our environment around us? Between you and me, what makes humans different from any animal that we will come across is our ability to control the electron. Next slide
The electron? Its a small part of an atom. It orbits around the center of an atom much like the planets. Electrons are tiny and account for less than one eighteen thousandth of the total mass of an atom. What makes it so important? When electrons move, they create an electrical current that humans call electricity. Electricity is what distinguishes humanity from all other species. With electricity, humanity has been able to save lives, connect on a global level, and let me watch Family Guy. Electricity is nothing short of a miracle, it is humanity's greatest gift, it is humanity's greatest curse.
In 1831, there lived a very smart man named Michael Faraday, he is credited with discovering the phenomena of induction. Induction is what allows all electricity (save solar) to be created today. The process is quite simple, one needs only to turn a magnet around a conductor to ‘induce’ an electrical current in the electrons of the conductor. To spin the magnet, we have a variety of options, we can use the flow of water, the movement of air, and finally we can boil water using heat to create steam to turn a turbine. Unfortunately, we choose the latter, and to create the heat necessary to boil the water, humans burn coal and natural gas that emit carbon dioxide when set aflame.
Next Slide
Electricity was not terrible for the environment at first, many people didn’t have the money to install electricity in their homes. Only a few services were powered by electricity. There were no cars. Humanity lived much closer to our environment. Now we live in a world portrayed by a screen, left and right we turn, enslaved by smartphones, laptops, cars. We do not turn away from these technological traps, instead we actively embrace them and ignore the environmental consequences. As of this year, we have burned over 4.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide, we have cut down almost 1 million hectares of forest, and instead of switching to renewable sources of goods and electricity, we continue to depend on fossil fuels for 80% of all of our total power demands.
What I have seen over the 14 years of my life in people is a culmination of pure genius, creativity and stubborn behavior. Americans refuse to get off of their couches and turn off their televisions to listen to the sounds of their dying world. America in particular accounts for 18% of the world’s total carbon emissions, yet holds less than 5% of the total population. As a country, we have done incredible things that have changed the world, but we are needy. In fact if the whole world lived to the standards of the United States of America, we would need the resources of over five earths to sustain those standards. America is ⅕ of the reason that the earth’s energy is imbalanced. To save the earth’s future, we as a species need to decrease carbon emissions by 6% per year. The U.S plays a crucial role in this restoration. Without every human’s commitment, we may not be able to ensure a safe future for our children; grandchildren to live in.
One question remains: how? How are we to save the future of humanity, the species of this earth and the air in which we breathe? I have seen that humanity is not ready for one big step to save the world, instead, we must take a million small ones. Step number one, remember; remember the brilliance of humanity, we have survived great disasters, this is the first disaster that we can prevent. For our entire history we have merely survived, survived the black plague, survived ice ages, but we will thrive because we will stop poisoning our world.
Step two: realise, realise what we are doing to our environment. We are killing our world at the expense of that twinkie that you ‘needed’ the smartphone that you ‘can’t live without’. Realize that you can live without these.
Step three: begin. To put it frankly, humans like cars, they like driving in cars, everywhere, my family included. Even in the small town of Crested Butte, we drove our car three blocks to get from lunch to a store that we wanted to go to. Out of the 144 million people in the United States who work every day, 121 million drive alone to and from work. One does not simply deprive americans from their cars, in our current day and age, the best way of decreasing Carbon Dioxide emissions is to make people commute distances and times shorter. To go about this, we must understand why the commute distances and times are lengthy to begin with.
Next Slide
For, example, we will begin with a man,( lets name him Jim), Jim wants to go to the University of Chicago, he gets accepted and lives in the dorms of the University for four years. After graduation, Jim wants to find a job and make money, so he moves into an apartment not far from the building in which he works. For a few years Jim lives and works in downtown Chicago, then he meets a woman (we'll call her Sarah) Sarah and Jim get married, move to a bigger apartment (still in the inner city) and keep their jobs in the inner city. The new couple decides to have a child. But they don’t feel comfortable raising their child in a downtown area, after all they have no yard and the schools will not fulfill their needs, so they move into a large house in the suburbs. Now the family has a good educational future (as suburban schools are better than urban schools) and a good environment for their kid. The husband still keeps his job in downtown Chicago and everyday, he needs to commute a fairly long distance to get to this job. What method of transportation does Jim take? A car. Jim is emitting a disastrous amount of Carbon Dioxide every day. He isn’t doing anything wrong. He is only providing money for his family.
In this common situation, we can do one of two things, either improve suburban economies and include more commercial buildings in these suburbs. This option will move peoples employment closer to them and decrease commute time and distance. The other option is to improve the school systems in inner cities, build more parks, and make apartments drastically bigger, this option will keep families from moving away from the city and keep them closer to their employment. Both options will decrease overall Carbon Dioxide emissions, and both options can be done in this day and age.
Climate change is a huge issue, so huge that it outweighs the human race, it lies beyond our comprehension. We need to open our eyes, see the world as it is, and fix it.
Next Slide
To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?
Thank You