Vehicles such as cars and motorcycles are a significant contributor to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. However, solutions are already being presented to change this. One of those solutions is electric cars, which produce far less CO2 emissions than regular cars. Unfortunately, electric cars are still not very common, and one of the reasons for this is that these cars need to use charging stations in order to recharge. These charging stations are not very common, and one step towards building a sustainable city is making these charging stations more widely available, as this will likely increase the popularity of electric cars.

I feel like if more students especially high schoolers and middle schoolers rode public transportation to and from school the carbon footprint would decrease greatly. Since parents take their kids to school in the morning all of those emissions being released from all of the different cars adds to the amount of Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

How is it that in a time of rapid increase of carbon New York City has had a 15% drop in Carbon rates from 2004-2016? A big part of this is that New York has a growing and in use public transit system. What ideas could help move this into more spread out city's.

I think it's necessary to make an impact with policymakers who will be apportioning budgets to things such as public transit budgets as well as laws that could incentivize using individual cars less, which would both help decrease carbon output. I also think getting the word out on what NYC has been doing right is very important for people to see how impactful and relatively convenient these changes are.

I agree with you. I recently went to New York City over the summer, and the Subway system is great because it is so intricate, and it is used by so many people that carbon emissions are definitely being cut. I think other cities should definitely adopt this system because it is very efficient and it cuts carbon emissions by a lot.

In your own opinion what do you think are some necessary changes we need to make in our own city to make them sustainable? Just think about simple things you can do everyday that could possibly help make your city more sustainable to live in.

Convert to a diffrent method of producing energy like windmills or solar pannels. Also make it easy to walk everywhere without putting people in a dangerous situation.

I think we can advertise to stop leaving trash on streets, and if there are, we will have teams to clean it up.

since our city is not large enough to make large-scale public transportation such as subway systems worthwhile, I think we should focus on solar energy, smaller-scale public transportation, as well as encouraging people to get exercise by walking on short trips instead of driving.

To create a city which has a low greenhouse gas impact I think that it is necessary to have an intricate subway system which is based on renewable energy. This railway system would also have to be very fast so that it would encourage people to take the subway rather than drive cars. This city also should have a lot of trees so some of the Carbon Dioxide can be converted into Oxygen. Cars based on nonrenewable energy should be taxed highly in this city. Bike trails should be created throughout the city so that biking is encouraged. There should also be a lot of bike shops.

Public transportation would be a solution to reducing citizens' carbon footprints. Why not have many people use a bus or train at the same time, instead of having everyone use their vehicles? Bikes could also be a solution, but not everyone will use them. With bikes, the citizens wouldn't be able to get around faster and would be late to events or work.

“Mass production of plastics, which began just six decades ago, has accelerated so rapidly that it has created 8.3 billion metric tons—most of it in disposable products that end up as trash.” 

A lot of stores and companies use single-use plastics which can only be used once before being thrown away. They are used because they are cheap, but they create a lot of waste. Companies for the most part do whatever makes/saves them the most money. If we ban single use plastics companies will have no choice but to stop using them.

According to national geographic, 91% of the world's plastic isn’t recycled. “Of the 8.3 billion metric tons that has been produced, 6.3 billion metric tons has become plastic waste.” (That's roughly 76% of all the world's plastic.) “Of that, only nine percent has been recycled.” 79% of the plastic that isn’t recycled ends up in the landfill or as litter. At some point most of the plastic goes into the ocean. Of course some of the plastic that ends up in the landfill is reusable, but if we ban single use plastics, we will be able to cut down on most of our plastic waste.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/scie … nvironment

I agree. Although banning single use plastics all over the world would be a great challenge, encouraging companies to utilize reusable packaging would be a great way to create positive change.

I have noticed especially in my city, there is a great lack of public transportation. This means that most people must rely on their own cars to get around leading to a greater use of fossil fuels.

I have noticed especially in my city, there is a great lack of public transportation. This means that most people must rely on their own cars to get around leading to a greater use of fossil fuels.

When most people think of nuclear they think of danger, when it is more energy and space efficient than fossil fuels and renewable energy sources. Additionally is a much more safe than fossil fuel environmentally though not as much as renewable energy in most cases.

I totally agree about that. Nuclear energy is the most beneficial type of energy we have today. Although it is a good source of energy, in the United states there has been a lot of nuclear power plants closures when in reality we should be building more nuclear power plants to promote good energy use.

I am a city planner with a goal of low-carbon transportation.  In regards to transportation, my first instinct is to make everyone walk or ride their bike, but then I realize that isn’t very practical at all.  Then I go to electric cars for all residents, but that would not only be impractical but also hideously expensive.  I then find my solution.  A system of trains, as clean as I can get them, that run across the city is a waffle pattern, going both north to south and east to west, with one train per road.  The roads would be train tracks (there would be sidewalks, of course); people would either walk, ride bikes, or ride the trains.  Even if one broke down, a person would only have to walk a single block to find the next one.

A sustainable city is a city designed with consideration of impacts on the environment and economy. It is also designed to be improved upon in future generations, which will keep the city up to date with the best environment friendly things.

As a start, cities could have a lower carbon footprint if a sufficient number of facilities like schools and workplaces were placed very close to homes, this way, less travel and therefore less greenhouse gases would be needed for people to reach their daily destination. Fortunately many, but not all cities have already had this. Additionally, the widespread use of free public transportation would also lower the city's carbon footprint. Things like buses, if not electric, produce more emissions than one car, but if the bus is usually at full capacity, the emissions per capita are lower than if everyone drove a car each. It would be even better if electric buses could be used instead.

I agree with what you are saying about trying to place schools and workplaces in more efficient areas around homes. I do think though many cities are trying to pivot into a full public transportation model. With busses, ubers, and trams, they are making progress into this initiative. The pandemic had a big halt in public transportation as it turned into more of a comfort problem over an easier ride problem. I think with the pandemic slowly getting better, cities will start to go back into full ride share/public transportation mode.

An ideal sustainable city would probably be one that has low carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions, not a lot of factories which leads to reduced pollution, and not a lot of cars since cars contribute to pollution as well. A sustainable city should also have recycling areas, and the selling of environmentally friendly products in stores. A sustainable city should have public transportation as well. Sustainable cities are important because they reduce the amount of greenhouse gases being sent into the atmosphere, and thus reducing things like climate change. Sustainable cities also reduce the carbon footprint of a city.

I agree wholeheartedly! Establishing a system of public transportation that's actually good is really important. Europe has done such a good job of it already. If other leading world countries modeled themselves after that and/or built upon what they already have, public transportation would be amazing! And not only public transportation, but also cities of green, too. Green roofs, green walls, plants and trees in every conceivable location! It would do an amazing job of keeping the cities cooler and the air cleaner. And not only those things either! There is so much more humans can do to make our cities more sustainable!

First and foremost, we'd need to convert everything to clean energy sources, like renewable and nuclear energy. We would need to establish a strong system of public transportation and also adopt the use of electric cars all over. Along with that, we'd need to build car charging stations (like gas stations) for said electric cars. We'd need to reduce the amount of concrete and cement used in our streets, sidewalks, buildings, etc. A way to keep cities cooler and to keep the air cleaner is to have green roofs everywhere, it would also help minimize the carbon dioxide. A sustainable city should also be designed in such a way that navigating it with a car isn't an absolute must, it should be walkable and bikeable. And these are only a few things, there is so, so much more we could do to make a city more sustainable.

Consumerism is a big part of the worlds pollution, and a lot of consumers come from big cities. I don't have an exact plan for an ideally sustainable city but I have some ideas that could help people and our planet. Recycling bins already exist in an abundance in cities but there aren't nearly enough as there should be, these should be readily available for the public so that recycling is encouraged. Some stores like this exist but I really liked the idea of stores that would let you reuse your containers and fill them with store-able foods or cleaning products,there should most certainly be more stores like this that could help reduce the amount of plastic and other polluting materials in food packaging. Let me know if you have any other ideas that could help make cities better!

I think local governments should enact different policies to reduce carbon emissions. For example, various state governments had planned to ban gasoline car sales by 2030. City governments should consider making public transportation more feasible, and should discourage acts which will harm to the environment.

This saying is very common and well known around the world. However what many people don’t know is that they’re supposed to follow this saying in the order it is in. First, try to reduce your plastic use as much as possible and try to reduce the amount of meat you eat in your weekly meals. Next, reuse as much as possible along so you don’t even have to recycle in the first place since many plastics actually cannot be recycled. Finally, recycle, if you cannot find a way to reduce or reuse, RECYCLE!

I 100% agree with your final statement, a lot of people find it difficult to reduce or  reuse what the consume, but recycling is a very easy and helpful thing to do that can be implement in any city environment.

My family don't drive cars that run on gas anymore, instead we travel using electric cars. Since they aren't using gas, they aren't polluting the environment with tons of carbon dioxide. Therefore, they wouldn't contribute to the greenhouse gases unlike gas and diesel vehicles.

From what I've heard, electric vehicles don't actually help the environment much. The production process causes a lot more greenhouse gases compared to the process used to create traditional cars. You probably don't want to rely solely on this for environmental conservation.

Some cities, as they are right now, have existing waste collection services, which are sponsored by the public.  These services greatly help us reduce our carbon footprint by recycling materials and grouping garbage.  In order to lower global carbon footprint, there should be more services like these, or adopt existing public services.

I have no idea how to implement this, but maybe get rid of the amount of gas and fuels that are emitted from factories. If we get rid of that, it could help immensely

This is a good point. Putting laws in place that strictly limit the amount of gas and fuel a factory is allowed to use can help limit pollution.

Most people when they hear about nuclear fusion as a power source they associate it with being dangerous and especially bad for the environment. What most people don't realize is just how efficient and environmentally friendly nuclear power actually is. Yes, you heard that right. As ridiculous as it sounds, nuclear power plants actually produce no carbon dioxide, the leading gas that contributes to the atmosphere. According to energysage.com, energy.gov, and various other sources, nuclear power is actually extremely efficient. One uranium pellet that is less than one inch can produce as much energy as one ton of coal, and 120 barrels of oil. The following quote is from energysage.com, the website I cited earlier. "According to the Department of Energy, a typical nuclear facility producing 1,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity takes up about one square mile of space. Comparatively, a wind farm producing the same amount of energy takes 360x more land area, and a large-scale solar farm uses 75x more space. That’s 431 wind turbines or 3.125 million (!!!) solar panels." This quote alone showcases the true efficiency of nuclear power. Sadly, as you would expect, (since it is so efficient and yet not the leading source of energy) it has as many pros as it does cons. Again, according to energysage.com, nuclear reactors are powered by uranium, which is technically not renderable. This is because uranium is an element found in the earth's crust, and therefore it is limited, of course. It also takes energy to mine it, therefore having negative effects as well. Since it is powered by uranium, it produces nuclear waste, as you would expect. This waste is highly radioactive, which means it takes a lot of money to package it safely away. Again, as you would expect, it is also very dangerous. Finally, to add onto the money problem, while nuclear reactors don't take much money to run while they are already built, building them is a whole other story; very expensive. In conclusion, nuclear reactors would probably be one of the best solutions to this energy crisis without these cons. One day, if we manage to find a safer, more renewable and yet just as efficient energy source for these reactors, it may be just the solution we are looking for.

In addition, carbon emissions actually cause more deaths than nuclear reactors. Though, yes, some people have died from meltdowns, have suffered cancer among other things, more people have suffered through pollutants, lung diseases, and similar horrible effects.

But sadly the reason people don't trust it, is because the deaths caused by nuclear reactors are much more directly visible than carbon emissions.

Our current environment is loaded with human caused greenhouse gases, which come from burning fossil fuels, coal, natural gas, and petroleum. In a city where I would be mayor, I would promote urban agriculture. It would shorten supply chains meaning the amount of Co2 emitted from transporting goods would also decrease. I would also have a good plan for reducing and managing food waste, with loads of recycling. I would get electrical public transportation and other huge moving devices to decrease the amount of
Co2 that comes from cars and buses. I would also join with many charities so that if people want to help and donate, there will be many resources. Clean energy with solar panels and wind energy. Planting many trees and many other plants that helps with the Co2.

Promoting urban agriculture is a great idea. A lot of people who live in cities don't have access to healthy food. Urban agriculture could provide these people with fresh fruits and vegetables. Also, if a lot of plants started being grown in the city the air would become a bit less polluted. Overall people would be happier and healthier if there were more urban agriculture.

Would it be possible to recycle plastic into walls for homes and stuff? Plastic houses would be cool.