Rio De Janeiro, Bric | featured news

Proponents of so-called "green accounting" - gathered in Rio de Janeiro this week for the Rio Earth Summit - hope that putting dollar values on resources will slam the brakes on unfettered development. A mentality of growth at any cost is already blamed for disasters like the chronic floods that hit deforested Haiti or the raging sand storms that have swept regions of China, worsening desertification.

Brazil has aspired for generations to climb into the club of the world's rich nations. By one measure, that moment has arrived: This city and others like Rio de Janeiro are now among the world's priciest.