Alex Steffen on Carbon Zero Cities

"We unfortunately already live on a planet where the climate has changed and will continue to change no matter what we do now. We’re playing a game of making the problem less bad rather than preventing it. And that means that every city is going to have to deal with questions of disaster management, building systems that are more rugged. Many things work for both of those goals: a place that’s less auto-dependent is also a place that’s better braced to deal with natural disasters. But it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the ultimate goal, which is that we’re trying to make sure that our cities are safe, great places to live, but also to make sure that the same is true for our planet."