by Susanne Posel
September 9, 2014

from OccupyCorporatism Website

Quietly and without much public debate, cities across the U.S. have been preparing for climate change and predicted disasters to come.

All over the nation cities and small towns are:

• Shoring up dams and dikes

• Using roof-top gardens

• Absorbing rainwater

• Upgrading sewage treatment plans

• Planting urban forests

• Using extension agents to combat new crop pests

Graham Brannin, Tulsa planning director commented:

"The messaging needs to be more on being prepared and knowing we're tending to have more extreme events. The reasoning behind it doesn't matter; let's just get ready."

Michael Bloomberg, former New York Mayor and current assistant to United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon, has been appointed to the UN Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change (SECCC) commented to the press that,

"cities hold the key to confronting climate change because they account for 75 percent of the heat-trapping gases and their mayors have executive powers to reduce emissions."

Bloomberg explained:

"Those actions will save lives, they'll strengthen and protect the national economies, they'll make cities more healthy and economically vibrant and together they'll make a difference in the global fight against climate change."

According to the Urban Climate Change Governance Survey (UCGS) report of 350 participating cities across the globe, preparations for climate change are being added into basic urban planning, along with economic development priorities.

The report claims that,

"75% of cities worldwide now tackle climate-change issues as a mainstream part of their planning, and 73% of cities are attempting both climate mitigation and climate adaptation - that is, they are trying both to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and to adapt to long-term changes that are already in motion.

 

But only 21% of cities report tangible connections between the response to climate change and achieving other local development goals."

These ideas are being testing in Oregon where the Clean Energy Works Portland (CEWP) program is offering residents $2,000 in rebates to have their homes reworked to "reduce your home's energy waste".

In 2013, Beaverton, Oregon became one of the first of 100 cities across the nation to be indoctrinated into the Obama administration's Revitalizing Roundtable initiative to collaborate local government leaders throughout the U.S. and federal program leaders with senior officials from federal agencies.

This paved the way for designs to bolster a,

"partnership with regional entities, the state, key federal agencies, the private sector and other stakeholders to support local businesses, attract new jobs, create entrepreneurial opportunities, boost advanced manufacturing and build a sustainable community."

In the report commissioned by Nexus Community Partners, entitled "Engaging Community for Sustainable Revitalization - Key Trends, Strategies and Recommendations" the focus on,

"address[ing] social and economic challenges" in urban cities across the nation must be directed to the engagement of "community revitalization".

Through sustainability as a core philosophy, and coercion of community participation, residents of any city could be made to accept a lifestyle in a densely population urban center under the pretext of environmental consciousness.

Earlier this year, at the The Smart Sustainable Cities conference held in Montevideo, Uruguay, hosted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nation Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to "secure a sustainable future".

ITU and UNESCO are pushing their,

"agenda to further crucial themes including smart sustainable cities, e-waste management, human exposure to electromagnetic fields and the collaboration with Academia."

The UN warns that,

"by 2050, 68 percent of the people on earth will reside in cities."

Recently Duke Energy (DE) ran a beta-test on customers in Ohio to determine "home energy management solutions" as the utilities corporation sought to educate the public on how to properly use their electricity with sustainability in mind.

To make the move to smart urban centers more appealing to the public, retailers have reinvented traditional furniture to make use of smaller spaces.

Houses have begun to shrink in size as the mini-housing trend pushes forward. New designs using color and opening architecture to take in sunlight is geared toward boosting the mood of the residents of these new shoe-box apartments in high-rises being constructed right now.

Appliances, furniture and even window panes will be smart; equipped with digital sensors that connect ordinary objects to the internet for constant communication and ultimately surveillance.