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As someone who lived through the recent Texas blackout, I would say the general competence of governance is fine here- that problem was notable by its relative

by mrkstu 5y ago

As someone who lived through the recent Texas blackout, I would say the general competence of governance is fine here- that problem was notable by its relative rarity. Comparatively the continual problems w/resource management (water, power, wildfires) in California seem relatively horrific to this outsider.

mint2 5y ago
The wild fire issue is only a thing due to a lack of regulations. Historically small and mega fires swept though all the California forests, often burning 4x the amount that’s burned in this historic fire year. Human intervention to stop those burns has created very unhealthy forests. Having houses in all these areas that burn is just a bad idea and a lot of hubris about the extent of our control over nature. Regulation to stop building in those area and enhance fire resistance of buildings is the solution, not more “freedom”. Housing developers have almost zero incentive to reduce their profit margin in order to fire proof the house or not build and thus not earn money. And water use isn’t a solved issue in other states. Either they happen to have a wetter climate or they aren’t any better. Power is a legitimate issue, but then I’d say California is actually doing pretty well because the climate change is a larger issue. Move fast and break things is better than doing nothing.
- mrkstu 5y ago
  I was talking 'competence' not 'freedom.' You arguing for more/better regulation speaks to the lack of competence in CA considering the time scales these issues have been ongoing.
  - mint2 5y ago
    Well When it comes to competence I’d disagree on that too. It’s a hard problem and they could do more but they also could do worse. Looking at similarly difficult issues, I don’t see any state that does well. It sure isn’t the climate denial states. And as an outsider, Texas seems very incompetent dealing with hurricanes and the power outage, which was rather predictable. The official’s then trying to scape goat issues that were not the primary cause does not inspire confidence. But maybe we’re both biased towards our home states. An outsider from France probably would think both of them could do a lot better.

by mrkstu 5y ago

mint2 5y ago

The wild fire issue is only a thing due to a lack of regulations. Historically small and mega fires swept though all the California forests, often burning 4x the amount that’s burned in this historic fire year. Human intervention to stop those burns has created very unhealthy forests. Having houses in all these areas that burn is just a bad idea and a lot of hubris about the extent of our control over nature. Regulation to stop building in those area and enhance fire resistance of buildings is the solution, not more “freedom”. Housing developers have almost zero incentive to reduce their profit margin in order to fire proof the house or not build and thus not earn money. And water use isn’t a solved issue in other states. Either they happen to have a wetter climate or they aren’t any better. Power is a legitimate issue, but then I’d say California is actually doing pretty well because the climate change is a larger issue. Move fast and break things is better than doing nothing.

mrkstu 5y ago
I was talking 'competence' not 'freedom.' You arguing for more/better regulation speaks to the lack of competence in CA considering the time scales these issues have been ongoing.
- mint2 5y ago
  Well When it comes to competence I’d disagree on that too. It’s a hard problem and they could do more but they also could do worse. Looking at similarly difficult issues, I don’t see any state that does well. It sure isn’t the climate denial states. And as an outsider, Texas seems very incompetent dealing with hurricanes and the power outage, which was rather predictable. The official’s then trying to scape goat issues that were not the primary cause does not inspire confidence. But maybe we’re both biased towards our home states. An outsider from France probably would think both of them could do a lot better.