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Jennifer Taylor has just completed her Masters in Environmental Studies at York University. Her focus there has been renewable energy, which is how Masdar City came onto her radar screen.

This 24 Billion dollar planned community is touted as being the world’s most sustainble – car free, carbon neutral, waste free….

It has also snatched the headquarters for IRENA – the International Renewable Energy Agency – from under the noses of better known renewable leaders like German, Norway and Denmark.

But might there something hypocritical about an island of leading edge sustainability in the middle of a major petroleum producing country, which also has one of the world’s biggest carbon footprints, next door to a Formula One race track?

Jennifer Taylor wondered the same thing and wrote about Masdar City for the “Your Town: Sustainable by Design” issue of Alternatives Journal.

You can see the complete episode here: TGM #155: Bailey’s Local Foods (September 18, 2009)