At the moment, L.A. exploits other regions to sustain itself, according to Peter Berg of the Planet Drum Foundation:

Los Angeles gets water from the Colorado River and northern California. Its liquid natural gas is from Indonesia. A large percentage of its labor comes from Mexico. Its electrical energy is derived from coal that comes from the Four Corners area of the Southwest.

Berg’s comment is one of many eco-stress-inducing quotes in "Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems: Principles and Practices," a book by Peter Newman, director of the Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, and sustainability researcher Isabella Jennings. Yet "Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems" is still a very upbeat book, sure to inspire urban planners, permaculturists, and other big thinkers.

This book names the many environmental, social, and economic challenges today’s cities face — then follows each of these up with a number of strategies for coping with or addressing these issues, along with examples of successes from around the world. In fact, some of these examples come from the L.A. area. L.A. Ecovillage‘s efforts toward sustainable urban living, the Dervaes family’s urban homestead in Pasadena, and the Santa Monica Festival Environmental Art Project all are part of the solution for creating sustainable cities, according to Newman and Jennings.

The main point of "Cities as a Sustainable Ecosystems" is that "cities need to be seen as ecosystems integrated within their wider context — communities nested within bioregions and the global biosphere." To help cities move in this direction, Newman and Jennings supply 10 main principles — and even provide a "Sustainability Checklist" at the end of the book that lets you rate your city’s progress.

Newman’s the person who coined the term “automobile dependence” in the late 1980s in reference to suburban sprawl that necessitated cars. In the 5-minute video below made late last year, hear Newman talk about how de-car-ing’s both necessary and feasible: "We just have to rediscover how cities work without so much oil."

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