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As somebody who doesn't want to drive as much as I have to, advocates locally and vocally for permitting life with out cars by enhancing bike trails, building h

As somebody who doesn't want to drive as much as I have to, advocates locally and vocally for permitting life with out cars by enhancing bike trails, building housing close to jobs, eliminating parking minimums, and increasing density, it's a slow route. It seems like small changes in regulations should be easy to accomplish, but it's actually far far harder than inventing entirely new technology and building entire industries around it. Social change is the hardest change to accomplish, despite it getting the most attention from so many.

wilg 4y ago
I'm glad people like you are advocating for this sort of thing! Very important for quality of life and helps the environment tremendously. I also worry about the pace that you mention, it's unfortunate that social change is so slow. It's also good that we have potential solutions that do not require it. I think the right framing on this might be to treat it as a "friendly competition". Can urban planning enthusiasts beat the electric car industry at reducing carbon by 2050? Or something like that.
- epistasis 4y ago
  After five years of beating my head against the wall, and making a good number of friends in the process, but having zero concrete change, I think that the problem is the system. Our system is set up for maximum local control to prevent any non-car infrastructure, but with top-down enforced car infrastructure that's unstoppable. Local advocacy has been pointless, instead, state level laws that limit cities, and pull back undemocratic local control processes is the way to go. Nobody pays attention to local politics except a few wealthy homeowners, and so politicians only respond to these very few opinion makers. It's a losing game unless you're in your 60s, retired, and loaded with money. State level legislators have broader constituencies that try to serve every one.
worik 4y ago
Social change follows an S curve too. Rapidly changing now

wilg 4y ago

I'm glad people like you are advocating for this sort of thing! Very important for quality of life and helps the environment tremendously. I also worry about the pace that you mention, it's unfortunate that social change is so slow. It's also good that we have potential solutions that do not require it. I think the right framing on this might be to treat it as a "friendly competition". Can urban planning enthusiasts beat the electric car industry at reducing carbon by 2050? Or something like that.

epistasis 4y ago
After five years of beating my head against the wall, and making a good number of friends in the process, but having zero concrete change, I think that the problem is the system. Our system is set up for maximum local control to prevent any non-car infrastructure, but with top-down enforced car infrastructure that's unstoppable. Local advocacy has been pointless, instead, state level laws that limit cities, and pull back undemocratic local control processes is the way to go. Nobody pays attention to local politics except a few wealthy homeowners, and so politicians only respond to these very few opinion makers. It's a losing game unless you're in your 60s, retired, and loaded with money. State level legislators have broader constituencies that try to serve every one.

worik 4y ago

Social change follows an S curve too. Rapidly changing now