One of the most potent forces in the world today is urbanisation. Some of the seemingly disconnected problems associated with urbanisation - water scarcity, food insecurity and pollution - are really the manifestation of several underlying assumptions and actions. One assumption is that there are no limits to resources such as water and land. Another is that the environment can assimilate the wastes that we produce from using these resources. These assumptions lead to linear flows of resources and wastes that are not reconnected. It used to be that people grew food and recycled their wastes close to where they lived. We have opened up that cycle, and the technological developments based on these assumptions are no longer applicable. In fact, the technological developments have become part of the problem, not the solution.
In 1992 at the time of the Rio S