Paradoxically, it is in cities that the destiny of nature is being decided. Massive consumption by a mostly urbanized human population drives the exhaustion of natural resources and rising pollution. On the occasion of meetings in Tokyo to address decreases in biodiversity, interest in more ecological industries is increasing. Ray Côté is the leading expert who recently presented (.ppt) at the City-Region Studies Centre has charted attempts to create eco-industrial parks where the byproducts from one plant are used as the inputs for another. In ‘L’Economie circulaire: L’Urgence écologique’ (Presses de Ecole nationale des ponts et chaussées, Paris 2009) Jean-Claude Lévy calls this a ‘circular economy‘ in which ecological factors are placed at the centre of product cycles. With around half of industrial production, China wishes to be a leader, drawing on past traditions of harmony with nature (Lao Tsu), even if ‘eco’ remains more a metaphor than a truly green reality. Clearly what happens in cities and industrial parks needs to be a central concern if issues of biodiversity and sustainability, rainforests and oceans, are to be seriously addressed.