EBOOK Bird on Fire:Lessons from the World's Least Sustainable City

Phoenix, Arizona is one of America's fastest growing metropolitan regions. It is        also its least sustainable one, sprawling over a thousand square miles, with a        population of four and a half million, minimal rainfall, scorching heat, and an        insatiable appetite for unrestrained growth and unrestricted property rights.In Bird        on Fire, eminent social and cultural analyst Andrew Ross focuses on the prospects        for sustainability in Phoenix--a city in the bull's eye of global warming--and also        the obstacles that stand in the way. Most authors writing on sustainable cities look        at places like Portland, Seattle, and New York that have excellent public transit        systems and relatively high density. But Ross contends that if we can't change the        game in fast-growing, low-density cities like Phoenix, the whole movement has a        major problem. Drawing on interviews with 200 influential residents--from state        legislators, urban planners, developers, and green business advocates to civil        rights champions, energy lobbyists, solar entrepreneurs, and community        activists--Ross argues that if Phoenix is ever to become sustainable, it will occur        more through political and social change than through technological fixes. Ross        explains how Arizona's increasingly xenophobic immigration laws, science-denying        legislature, and growth-at-all-costs business ethic have perpetuated social        injustice and environmental degradation. But he also highlights the positive changes        happening in Phoenix, in particular the Gila River Indian Community's successful        struggle to win back its water rights, potentially shifting resources away from new        housing developments to producing healthy local food for the people of the Phoenix        Basin. Ross argues that this victory may serve as a new model for how green        democracy can work, redressing the claims of those who have been aggrieved in a way        that creates long-term benefits for all.Bird on Fire offers a compelling take on one        of the pressing issues of our time--finding pathways to sustainability at a time        when governments are dismally failing their responsibility to address climate        change.