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The reality of my personal situation - and I'm sure others are at the same point - is that remote work offers the biggest chance we have to fight (in my opinion
by mycentstoo 4y ago
The reality of my personal situation - and I'm sure others are at the same point - is that remote work offers the biggest chance we have to fight (in my opinion) two of the most important issues of our time - cost of housing and climate change.
First - housing. The cost of housing is hugely tied to location and being remote offers a chance to fight back against that. There's not more land in San Francisco and New York and building has become politically untenable. This has and will have tremendous consequences for my financial future. Being remote offers a way to fight against that both because workers can expand their horizons for other locations that are building housing but also because in the future we potentially have an opportunity to re-zone commercial real estate into residential, higher-density real-estate. Rather than needing to provide an individual with two places (house, office), in the future a lot of jobs would only require an individual to have one place (house).
Second - climate change. The environment cost of commuting everyday is high since many cities functionally require a car. Traffic and pollution wreck real, tangible havoc on our habitat. Reducing the need to commute coupled with another opportunity to redesign urban landscapes into greener landscapes offers at least some pushback against climate change.
In my opinion, both of these concerns massively outweigh any intangible benefits such as workplace community.
- harryh 4y agoI suspect that whatever climate benefits generated by eliminating commutes will be counteracted by the urban sprawl fostered by your first point.