Although Rio may be Brazil’s most beautiful city, it is also one of its most troubled. The favelas which blanket the slopes of surrounding hillsides house approximately 20 percent of the city’s residents and are often dangerous, unsanitary, and lacking in basic services such as water, sewerage, and, to a lesser extent, electricity. Many of the city’s poor have no jobs, no access to schools, and only limited access to medical care. However, literacy rates for Rio are high, nearly 90 percent, and a system of public hospitals and clinics provides at least some medical care to the city’s poorest residents. Police corruption is widespread. Environmental pollution is a problem throughout the metropolitan region, and the waters of Guanabara Bay are considered too polluted for safe bathing. Rio experienced serious crime problems in the early 1990s, when powerful criminal gangs took over entire favela neighborhoods. The murders of homeless children in 1993 by corrupt police officers acting on behalf of commercial interests drew international attention to Rio’s social and criminal problems. With a murder rate of 61 per 100,000 people in 1994, Rio was one of the world’s most violent cities. This was more than twice the rate of 28 per 100,000 for São Paulo.  View

Great to see an increased awareness of this important issue. We haven't had our bin emptied since the beginning of the year because we reuse, recycle and compost all that we can! Each week we create less than 100gms of waste - all made up of non recyclable plastics and composite materials. We still live a 'normal' lifestyle with all the trappings of 21st century life, but we make careful consumer choices. You can find out more about what we have done on our website; our aim is to show that a 'zero waste' household is achievable, relatively straight forward and is not reserved for people who are totally self sufficient! Ok, so we're not exactly ZERO waste, but if everyone created less than 100gms of landfill per week, we'd make a massive difference. Sure it requires a little more time and thought, but the environment and we are worth it!  View

I agree, this will all be laughed at one day. I belive my children will grow up in an environment where the recreational use of pot will be similar to alcohol without the risk of becoming addicted.  View

I think focusing on solar energy is a good start. I don't understand how the effects are conceived to be so negative. Ultimately, we will be deciding which actions would be best at protecting the environment which means which cause the most positive change and the least negative.  View

1 square per sitting? seriously cheryl crow? she must be quite dirty... sorry environment, i'm going to use as much TP as I need.  View

This is a really interesting debate! Normally environmental concerns pull on economic ones as well. I guess that's can't be ignored with toilet paper use. But I'm not sure whether I would sacrifice paper for something else. But perhaps the Europeans have it right in this battle: bodays anyone?  View

If we just use recycle environmentalists for fertilizer, we can save the planet a lot faster.  View

I think that some people are overreacting to the facebook poll, but I definitely agree that it is a different situation with Obama than any other president. The fact that death threats are a more prevalent issue with Obama makes the poll, which might have been a joke, a bigger deal. I agree with the source that said we need to look at the environment that created this poll, not at whether social networking sites need to monitor more.  View

can't these developing countries create an economy around environmental reform, like building windmills? aren't we supposed to be doing that here in the U.S.?  View

I find it quite outrageous when leaders of developing countries paint the issue as a zero-sum game - that if there were to be growth, there will be a whole load of pollution. I think it's time for people - and this is where developed countries can step in - to trail blaze new growth strategies, factoring in the environment as a cost.  View