Note: Intro -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- The Future Is Now -- Chapter 2: Manifest Destiny and the Growth of America: Cheap Energy and Spending Natural Capital -- Historic Settlement Patterns in the United States -- Trends in Urbanization and the Emerging Mega Regions in Population -- The 11 Megaregions -- The American Melting Pot -- The Urban-Rural Imbalance -- Chapter 3: The Myth of Urban Self Sufficiency -- The Myth of the Self Sufficient City -- Some Conclusions and What's Next -- Chapter 4: A Tale of Twelve Cities and Ten Regions -- New York City, New York: The Capital City of the World -- Population -- History -- Flint, Michigan: Rust Belt Return to Nature -- History -- Asheville, North Carolina: Blue Ridge Chic -- Population -- History -- Orlando, Florida: Rollercoaster to an Uncertain Future -- Population -- History -- The Lower Mississippi River and the Central Gulf Coast: Wetlands, Steamboats, and Oil -- New Orleans, Louisiana: The Big Easy in the Big Bowl -- Population -- History -- Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Red Stick Above the Waters -- History -- Houston, Texas: Oil City, USA -- Population -- History -- Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Small Metropolis on the Fertile Plain -- History -- Amarillo, Texas: Cattle and Oil on the Semi-arid Plain -- History -- Las Vegas, Nevada: Betting on the Uncertain Future of Water -- History -- Los Angeles, California: Life in the Desert Fast Lane -- History -- Portland, Oregon: Green Paradise, Or Is It? -- History -- Summary -- Chapter 5: The Wealth of Nature Is the Wealth of Nations: Ecosystem Services and Their Value to Society -- What Are Ecosystem Goods and Services and Why Are They Important? -- What Are the Types of Ecosystem Services? -- How Are Ecosystem Services Valued, and How Much Are They Worth? -- Variation in Ecosystem Goods and Services across the Landscape. , Ecosystem Services Across the Landscape -- Chapter 6: Global Climate Change: A Warmer and More Unpredictable Future -- Introduction -- The Southwest -- Evidence for Climate Change -- Temperature -- Precipitation -- The Temperature-Precipitation Feedback Loop -- The Great Plains -- The Mississippi Valley -- Coastal Areas -- Perfect Storms and Other Weather Events -- Orchestrated Denial -- Chapter 7: Energy: The Master Resource -- Introduction -- It's the Energy, Stupid! -- Energy vs. Power -- The Laws of Thermodynamics -- History of Human Energy Use -- World and U.S. Patterns of Energy Production and Consumption -- Peak Oil -- Energy Return on Investment: Why "Drill, Baby, Drill" Is Not a Sustainable Strategy -- Will Unconventional Oil and Gas Replace Conventional Supplies? -- The 100-Year Supply and Other Myths -- Tar Sands -- Coal -- Renewable Energy to the Rescue? -- How Much Energy Does Society Need? -- Landscape Implications -- Chapter 8: Feeding America's Cities: Putting Food on the Table in the Twenty-First Century -- A Brief History of Food Production -- Crop Production in the U.S. -- Livestock, Dairy, and Seafood Production in the US, Where and How Much -- International Trade of Food Products -- The Family Meal -- What Does It Take to Produce Our Food? -- Vast Expanses of Suitable Land -- Energy -- Fertilizers, Other Chemicals, and Irrigated Water -- The Capacity of Different U.S. Cities and Regions to Produce Food -- Impacts of Megatrends on Food Production -- Chapter 9: Moving Away from a Ptolemic View of the Human Economy -- Introduction -- What's Wrong with GDP? -- An Empty World to a Full World -- A Two-Edged Sword -- High Oil Prices and Regional Sustainability -- Chapter 10: Revisiting and Ranking the Cities and Regions -- Sustainability of the Cities and Regions -- New York City -- Flint -- Asheville -- Orlando -- Cedar Rapids. , The Lower Mississippi River and the North Central Gulf-New Orleans-Baton Rouge-Houston -- Amarillo -- Las Vegas -- Los Angeles -- Portland -- Global Versus Local Constraints on Local Sustainability -- Sustainability at the National Scale -- Chapter 11: Summing It Up. Alternative Routes for the Way Forward -- Contemporary Economics Cannot Solve These Problems -- The Limits to Technology -- Adaptation: Learning from History -- Regionalism in a Globalized World -- Biographical Information -- Bibliography -- Index.