Gore: Build Greener Cities

Not just build but Green the ones we got!!

Al Gore urges China, U.S. to build greener cities

The Nobel Peace Prize winner identifies greener cities as one of the biggest steps in fighting environmental hazards of urbanization.

GREEN CITY: Apartments under construction at the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city on Dec. 11, 2010 in Tianjin, China. The city is part of China's plans to become more environmentally friendly. (Photo: ZUMA Press)

Jan 06 2011 - Former US vice president Al Gore said on Jan. 6 that China and the United States — the world's biggest polluters — should work on designing greener cities as part of their efforts to tackle climate change.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner told an urban development conference in Beijing that energy efficient buildings, low-emission vehicles, renewable energy resources and more trees in urban areas would help reduce pollution.

"We have to change our thinking and adopt a strategic approach and the United States and China could do no better than to focus on cities as the principle venue in which these changes can be made," Gore said.

As the world's leading economies and biggest polluters, China and the United States had "a special responsibility to address the world sustainability crisis," he said.

Gore congratulated China on its efforts to reduce its world-beating carbon emissions and invest in renewable energy, but said more needed to be done. {continued}