UN Calls for Greener Cities

"Activists mark June 5, the date of the first environmental summit in Stockholm in 1972, as the U.N.'s World Environment Day. The 2005 theme is "greener" planning for cities, many of them hit by air pollution, fouled rivers and poor sanitation. In San Francisco, the main host of the 2005 event, mayors from more than 50 cities including Shanghai, Kabul, Buenos Aires, Sydney, Phnom Penh, Jakarta, Rome and Istanbul planned to sign up for a scheme setting new green standards for cities. Cities would be ranked from zero to four stars according to compliance with a set of 21 targets. And around the world, from Australia to Zimbabwe, activists staged rallies, cleaned up litter, organized poetry competitions or planted trees."