A big part of this is that urban planning in the US is suburb centric which is devastating not only for the environment, but also for the economy. City centers

A big part of this is that urban planning in the US is suburb centric which is devastating not only for the environment, but also for the economy. City centers have higher density and more tax dollars and they subsidize the infrastructure of the suburbs. Basically, the suburbs tax income can't sustain their own infrastructure so American cities rely on growth in order to fund new developments and infrastructure maintenance. It's essentially a ponzi where the music stops when the growth stops. So not only are American cities terrible for the environment, but they are incentivized to continue to grow in order to fund legacy infrastrucure, which inevitably places a strain on the environment. The car model of a city is what is destroying our environment. North America needs better urban planning if we have any chance at all in making a dent in global climate change.