<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061211/lf_nm/cities_dc" >In epochal shift, half humanity to become urban</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>With the world poised to enter an urban age when more people will live in cities than in the countryside, Josiah Tobiko sees no need to move from his cow dung-covered hut in rural Kenya.<br />n<br />n"You can choose city life with televisions and mobile phones but I prefer living here," said Tobiko, a Maasai teacher who lives in a settlement of 125 cattle and goat herders with no electricity or piped water at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro.<br />n<br />nTobiko, 35, moved into a new one-storey home this year — made of tree branches tied with sisal and coated with about six inches (15 cms) of cow dung and mud.<br />n<br />nHere in Amboseli, lions and elephants are residents' most pressing concerns, not road accidents or muggers.<br />n<br />n"People go and live in the towns but most come back because they feel there's no culture there," Tobiko said.<br />n<br />nHe may be right but for now, more and more people are moving to the world's cities and this population shift promises to usher in an urban age — 6,000 years after the first cities emerged in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.<br />n<br />nAccording to U.N. data, the world's urban population is poised to surpass the rural total for the first time in history.</blockquote><br />n<br />nI've always been in the minority living where I do in the US but now I will be in the minority compared to the world. It doesn't bother me at all but it sure is interesting how the demographics are changing. It also underscores to me the importance the remaining rural people have. <br />n<br />nMost of humanity's food is grown in rural areas and by concentrating people in cites they become ever more dependent on us rural folks to provide them with the basic necessity of life, food. Mentioning the basic necessities brings the thought of water to mind. With more and more people clustering in cities, what is going to happen to the fresh water of the planet in these areas? Is that going to be a problem that needs dealt with?<br />n<br />nI'm not taking a stand one way or the other on this issue, just find it interesting and thinking of the implications for farmers and ranchers. We have been losing status for quite a while now but maybe it will start changing when people realize how dependent they are on us rural people for food. I doubt it but what the hell, one can hope.<br />n<br />n<strong></strong>