No, urban centers aren't the death of the environment, argues New Yorker staff writer Owen. In terms of the per capita production of greenhouse gases, New York City ranks last nationwide. A confirmed city girl, I'm biased, but I still say this is important. Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

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While the conventional wisdom condemns it as an environmental nightmare, Manhattan is by far the greenest place in America, argues this stimulating eco-urbanist manifesto. According to Owen (Sheetrock and Shellac), staff writer at the New Yorker, New York City is a model of sustainability: its extreme density and compactness梐nd horrifically congested traffic梕ncourage a carfree lifestyle centered on walking and public transit; its massive apartment buildings use the heat escaping from one dwelling to warm the ones adjoining it; as a result, he notes, New Yorkers' per capita greenhouse gas emissions are less than a third of the average American's. The author attacks the "powerful anti-urban bias of American environmentalists" like Michael Pollan and Amory Lovins, whose rurally situated, auto-dependent Rocky Mountain Institute he paints as an ecological disaster area. The environmental movement's disdain for cities and fetishization of open space, backyard compost heaps, locavorism and high-tech gadgetry like solar panels and triple-paned windows is, he warns, a formula for wasteful sprawl and green-washed consumerism. Owen's lucid, biting prose crackles with striking facts that yield paradigm-shifting insights. The result is a compelling analysis of the world's environmental predicament that upends orthodox opinion and points the way to practical solutions. (Sept.)

David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen CH PC FKC (born 2 July 1938) is a British politician and Chancellor of the University of Liverpool.

He was one of the founders of the British Social Democratic Party (SDP). He led the SDP from 1983 to 1987 and the re-formed SDP from 1988 to 1990. He is also known for becoming the youngest person in over forty years to hold the post of British Foreign Secretary (from 1977 to 1979) and as one of the authors of the failed Vance-Owen and Owen-Stoltenberg peace plans offered during the Bosnian War. He has been a controversial figure for much of his career, inspiring great devotion among close followers but also disaffection due to perceived arrogance. He sits in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.