Traffic jams! Only one of the problems confronting a metropolis like Mexico City. With over twenty million inhabitants the Mexican capital is one of the largest cities in the world. The suburbs are still expanding explosively, with all the consequences entailed.

The city was founded by the Aztecs in 1325 on an island in the high-lying Lake Texcoco. Building rapidly extended towards other islands, creating a kind of Venice. But it is precisely this location that is the cause of a great number of problems the city has to deal with. The metropolis lies in a valley completely surrounded by high volcanoes. The result is that the polluted air/smog is trapped. Because Mexico City is located at the lowest point of the valley it is difficult for polluted water to flow away. Consequently, what remains of Lake Texcoco is exceptionally poisonous. This in turn causes drinking water problems.

An increasing percentage of the global population lives in enormous urban agglomerations. This tendency is mainly visible in developing countries. Cities like Mumbai (Bombay), Shanghai, Lagos and Jakarta have to contend with problems similar to those of Mexico City. More and more land and resources are required to accommodate the population growth. As early as 1972, the Club of Rome concluded that there are limits to growth. It warned of natural resources being exhausted by the continuously growing demand for food, energy and drinking water.

However, this is by no means solely due to the population growth in developing countries. The Netherlands, for example, has a small population growth, but the ‘ecological footprint’ (the effect on the environment per inhabitant) is disproportionately large. A Dutchman’s demand for agricultural land, woods, fishing-grounds and fossil fuels is five times that of a Kenyan or an Indian. If every global citizen were to use the same amount of energy, space, food and water as a Dutchman, the natural resources would rapidly be depleted and the environment would become even more overburdened.

Yet the West has no legitimate basis for denying others what one considers quite normal for oneself. How can the global population escape this dilemma?