Sao Paulo: Lack of Urban Environmental Awareness

Sao Paulo is a bit of an unexpected city - it's not a port or at the confluence of major rivers, and grew only because businesses elsewhere had to move goods through it and immigrants had to pass through. As a result, its a city of 20 million people with a really diverse backgrounds and interests, who all ended up there for work and a home, and so urbanization at full speed and intensity was the norm - few parks, few trees, little open space. The rivers that existed were seen as nothing but good places to put sewage, trash, roads and freeways. As a result, the rivers are disgustingly polluted, can be smelled from far away, and are an absolute afterthought.