Urbanization

I visited Washington, DC over my Christmas break and had a bit of a culture shock after staying there for a few days. I felt clausterphobic, alone, and very much conscious of the lack of kindness. After reading the urbanization reading I couldn't help but think about my recent experiences and those I have had in the past. Washington DC does not have the best public transportation. They are still mainly a driving city, and the cities in Virginia leading into DC are the same: horrible cramped traffic, and much honking of horns. The roads are disgusting too (regardless of the 2 feet of snow we got clobbered with). I was just astonished too at the people just aimlessly dropping their trash on the ground, and these are 1st world cities. I went to Beliize in 2003 and landed in their national capitol to see a city that looked like slums. The sanitation is horrible, and as the reading put, more and more people are living in these cities, and the statistics are getting worse as the demand grows higher. I think about how gross I felt in DC, and then I cannot imagine the poor living conditions that places like Calcutta have. This does not even include the problems we have with water. I remember when I visited Las Vegas and they had a sign in the bathroom that instructed you to put your towel on the hook and pull your covers up on your bed to tell the maid not to change them so that they can preserve water. This was in 2007. I am well aware of the water problems that we have, but the problems of the West and all over the world really are down right scary! How do we educate people about doing better? Especially economically stressed people? What do we do to improve their lives? Can we if struggle in our first world cities as well? I am sure that there is an answer. It will require a lot of input from governments and rebuilding and cleanup on their parts for these stressed cities, but I know that we can do it!