Re:The Silence of the Bugs
by closeparen on Tuesday May 29, 2018 @03:56AM
(#17177212)
>global capital is generally solving ecological problems
Global capital is generally responding to consumer preferences, which in the context of housing means high-density structures in walkable and transit-connected areas, which are specifically good. Consumers also have lots of un-ecological preferences, like large vehicles, cheap meat, etc. which are not.
>unsustainable public infrastructure
Car infrastructure is problematic in many ways, but "unsustainable" is the wrong word. We're sustaining it just fine, unlike its alternatives. Empirically, our most important transit systems are incapable of maintaining previously-achieved levels of service for any amount of money, and the costs of implementing new service are escalating for reasons we don't understand such that even minor subway buildout is becoming an existential challenge to the resources of our richest and fastest-growing cities. Give it 30 years, and it's not clear that the collective productivity of all humanity will exceed the cost of a mile of New York City subway track. That's unsustainable. The environmental-friendliness axis is orthogonal.
Global capital is generally responding to consumer preferences, which in the context of housing means high-density structures in walkable and transit-connected areas, which are specifically good. Consumers also have lots of un-ecological preferences, like large vehicles, cheap meat, etc. which are not.
>unsustainable public infrastructure
Car infrastructure is problematic in many ways, but "unsustainable" is the wrong word. We're sustaining it just fine, unlike its alternatives. Empirically, our most important transit systems are incapable of maintaining previously-achieved levels of service for any amount of money, and the costs of implementing new service are escalating for reasons we don't understand such that even minor subway buildout is becoming an existential challenge to the resources of our richest and fastest-growing cities. Give it 30 years, and it's not clear that the collective productivity of all humanity will exceed the cost of a mile of New York City subway track. That's unsustainable. The environmental-friendliness axis is orthogonal.