Posted by
Defend America on Friday, December 11, 2009 8:14:45 AM
A green, sustainable future that doesn't work
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
December 11, 2009
Cordes Junction, Ariz.
In the high desert of central Arizona, more than five thousand miles
from the global-warming summit in Copenhagen, sits an aging and
unfinished vision of the enviro-friendly, sustainable life that some
climate change activists foresee for us all. It's called Arcosanti,
created in 1970 by the Italian architect Paolo Soleri, and it is the
prototype of a green community of the future.
The only problem is, it doesn't work. And it never did.
Arcosanti is an "arcology," a word Soleri coined by combining
"architecture" and "ecology." In Soleri's vision, an arcology is a
self-contained city in which hundreds of thousands of people live in a
small space, their needs met by green energy sources, recycled and
sustainable products, and carefully planned social and cultural events.
There are -- God forbid -- no cars.
In a Soleri design, masses of people are packed into the
small-footprint arcology so that the land surrounding the community can
remain pristine, unpolluted by human touch. It was an idea much in
fashion a few decades back. "As urban architecture, Arcosanti is
probably the most important experiment undertaken in our lifetime,"
wrote Newsweek in 1976.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/A-green_-sustainable-future-that-doesn_t-work-8648843-79008007.html