This is a nice article I just read on Salon about Pelosi's pilgrimage to our far northern neighbor, Greenland. Apparently, the House Speaker is the highest ranking official in our government to have ever visited Greenland. Wow, Greenland... I hear they got their independence recently because the Danes forgot it was a territory of theirs. Now that's a revolution.
Quoted from the article:
How did this happen? Pelosi says "that the American people are way ahead of all of us in Washington, D.C. -- the Congress, the White House and the rest. They know that we need a serious initiative and a serious commitment to making the change that is necessary." I'm not entirely sure that's true. The American people also want cheap gas. More than anything else, the American people don't want to be inconvenienced. But one thing's indisputable, American politicians are now convinced that voters take climate change seriously, enough so that passing a cap-and-trade bill on carbon emissions is seen as strategically advisable.
3 comments:
I'm sick of the "I don't want to be inconvenienced" mentality.
Yes, but what is an acceptable level of trouble for a long term goal? It's a big question of tradeoffs. For example, people find that driving opens up more opportunities for them, allowing them to make more money. In a way driving pays for itself. Maybe there are jobs around here, but if I want to make enough to pay rent, I can either spend 2-3 hours taking mass transit each way, or drive in half that time, to where ever the jobs might be.
It also protects me from blight, since as my neighborhood declines, I can commute somewhere with brighter prospects without having to pay rent in that burgeoning area. Since the cost of gas, insurance, and car payments are less than the price differential in housing from the center city to the suburbs (or more likely tier 1 and tier 2 suburbs since an overwhelming number of jobs aren't in the core) it makes sense to drive. Sometimes it makes sense to drive a lot. You could look at it this way, rent in the loop for a 1 bedroom 1000 sq ft apartment is above 2000/mo. Your rent is 1100/mo for the same room farther north. You could get the same room in Kenosha for ~550. Gas isn't that expensive--yet--and some people don't like trying to circle the block eight times to find a parking spot. Since I have scratched strangers cars trying to park in your neighborhood, I can understand wanting to take the train. In exchange for the ease of getting to and from work and the savings in parking, insurance, and gas, you get to
1) restrict your housing choices to those near bus and train lines.
2)Share your commute with some people you might not like very much
3)Bother your friends and family every time you move
4)Let the CTA choose how late you can stay out, and how often you can go home.
5)Give up a lot of options for your weekends: since it might take 3-4 times as long to get somewhere on public transit, it may be infeasible to make a daytrip to a city as close as Milwaukee.
It's a choice, and you've made yours, and I know exactly what it's like, and I really like where I am now.
I wasn't even talking about gas and driving. I just meant in general, mainly thinking back on my days of being abroad. Oh well. I am a city dweller, and probably always will be one until I buy property in Goa, and give up even more conveniences.
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