Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumMore Environmental Comedy From Indonesia - New Borneo Capital Will Be A "Tree City"
With its capital Jakarta continuing to sink into the Java Sea, the government of Indonesia has chosen a location to build a new capital from scratch. President Joko Jokowi Widodo announced on Monday that the new city will be in the East Kalimantan province, on the lush island of Borneo. While poor urban planning has burdened Jakarta with traffic congestion, overcrowding, and severe air pollutionthe worst in Southeast Asia, according to a Greenpeace studythe government promises the new capital will be smarter, cleaner, and greener.
The first phase of the new city will encompass nearly 5,000 acres. Construction of this phase is planned to begin in 2021 and be finished by 2024, according to the news site Mongabay. The entire city, targeted for completion in 2045, will occupy about 495,000 acres of land, two-and-a-half times the size of New York City. The Indonesian government says at least 50 percent will be open green space, with parks and gardens, as well as a zoo and a sports complex, integrated into the natural landscape such as hilly areas and river systems, in the words of planning minister Bambang Brodjonegoro.
Its all part of a grand strategy to make Indonesias capital a forest cityone that will not only leave Borneos protected forests undisturbed, but will also restore the environment in Kalimantan, Brodjonegoro said.
The news comes months after Jokowimotivated in part by the need to cement his anticipated reelection winvowed to take action on a capital relocation plan thats been talked about for decades. Jakarta is currently home to 10 million people, and the new capital city is slated to accommodate up to 1.5 million of them, mostly government employees and their families. The island of Borneo and the Kalimantan province had been rumored to be the chosen sites, which naturally has environmentalists concerned.
EDIT
https://www.citylab.com/environment/2019/08/indonesia-new-capital-borneo-jakarta-sinking-environment/596824/
mountain grammy
(26,624 posts)I heard an interesting theory.. the reason intelligent life doesn't find each other in the universe is because as their technology advances, they destroy themselves before they advance enough to travel to other worlds. Kind of like what we're doing. I'm thinking whoever's left will be back to basics.
hatrack
(59,587 posts)Beginning to have doubts that this is the case.
StevieM
(10,500 posts)I am truly scared that the population could ultimately drop to zero.
Civilization might be set back a few hundred years and billions will die, but there's close to no chance of all humans dying any time soon. It would take something TRULY world ending like the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs, a gamma ray burst, or something else of that nature.
StevieM
(10,500 posts)It isn't too long a read, and it is definitely worth your time.
http://globalwarming.berrens.nl/globalwarming.htm