[DieHard the Hunter]

I live in a city that was one of the early adopters of Agenda 21, shortly after the conference in Rio de Janiero.

http://www.waitakere.govt.nz is the website for our city.

The focus of successive City Councils for the past 15 years has been on sustainable living. And, to be honest, it has worked extremely well.

Prior to the focus on sustainability, West Auckland was a hole, a nasty smelly place that was undesirable to live in. Now, it has got to be one of the most livable places on this planet.

So, based on what has happened here, I think this article is overly shrill. Every once in a while, by accident, even the United Nations might just get something right.

[Charles Martel]

Sustainable living initiatives that are applied to existing urban areas are not the big concern here. Clearly, the problem is the "de-ruralization", or forcing rural dwellers together into existing or new urban areas.

I'm curious, though... what did a focus on sustainable living do to make West Auckland less smelly and undesirable -- and why were the problems that caused those conditions not able to be fixed before?