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As much as I want to say that Farhad is wrong, I can't. He is right. We can't continue to live the way we have. We are seeing the results of kicking the can, al
by WheelsAtLarge 7y ago
As much as I want to say that Farhad is wrong, I can't. He is right. We can't continue to live the way we have. We are seeing the results of kicking the can, also known as the fix, down the road. We hope that things will get fixed eventually but not now. We feel that somehow it will be easier to fix by the next generation. Unfortunately, it only gets harder. We'll just have to suffer more when the fix is finally made.
- ggm 7y agoFixes which have winners and losers become lost in electoral arithmetic. An example of this struck me some years ago when a friend who lived in Louden County (W. Virginia) said they were subject to frequent power outages which caused catastrophic loss of the goods in the freezer, but the local authority kept losing the vote for increased local taxes which would pay for fixes to the electricity distribution issues: People don't want to socialise the costs, at personal loss of disposable income. I predict that no measure of substance which demands people pay more to socialize fixes will get up without a fight. I also predict that rational simple fixes applied in other economies (I am thinking of europe mainly) simply won't be considered, because "socialism"
- WheelsAtLarge 7y agoTrue, we seem to want everything but aren't willing to pay for it. This situation is similar to the country going to war. Where the political leaders are the ones that must convince the population that we must act or lose the war and our way of life. It really does come down to leadership.
- chrisdhoover 7y agoThere is no county Louden in West Virginia. There is a Loudoun County Virginia. It was largely rural until recently. It is now a suburb of Washington DC. Part of Dulles Airport was built in Loudoun County.
- ggm 7y agoThanks for the correction. I'm an Australian infrequent visitor to D.C.
- baggy_trough 7y agoDo we even agree what the fix is?
- Animats 7y agoA lot of tree trimming and removal. Lots of heavy equipment. Firebreaks a mile wide. More full-time Cal Fire people and equipment. Recycled 747s as water tankers (there's already one.) More underground power lines. Not really that hard.
- cma 7y agoMaybe drone fire surveillance and rapid response.
- mobilefriendly 7y agoNo, the solution is returning to the natural regular burns that are part of the ecosystem in California. Zero tolerance fire-fighting is the main issue at hand, as it builds up kindling to infernos.
- mokus 7y agoAnd controlled burns. The land WILL burn - why would we NOT let it burn at a time of our choosing, such as the middle of the rainy season when we have the best control over it?
- ars 7y agoThose burns release a lot of pollution and CO2. I've always wondered if it was possible to collect the brush and dry plants and burn them more usefully for energy.
- fzzzy 7y agoUnderground power lines
- not_a_cop75 7y agoThe end of California for most people was generations ago. My folks lived in LA when I was a kid, and the sheer lack of affordable housing even then made them move out to Florida, where water front property was comparatively affordable. California has never chosen to fix the problems that it has. It has instead become a less practical version of New York for the west. Now, if you can tolerate living in California, that's saying something. You can tolerate the crap that most people wouldn't in a thousand years want to deal with. Don't get me wrong there are good things - the climate generally speaking and the education system. But since moving away from Cali, I've always noticed something weird and eccentric about most people that chose to remain. I can't begin to say what it is - maybe an optimism that things will get better as tech giants solve more and more problems. Still, my response is good luck with that. Big money in the hands of just a few has seldom benefited any nation, and that applies to states just as much.