Comments on: Required Reading (Because Deep Down You Love Being Told What To Do)

By: PB

PB — Wed, 27 May 2009 06:43:16 +0000

“Reframing”… doubleplus good!

By: dan cortland

dan cortland — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:53:44 +0000

Sabina@1:

Bluntly : life as a suburban couch potato might have less appeal to prospective potatoes if knew they would be obliged to pay for the medical treatment their car-bound, sedentary existence makes necessary.

Hey, I play my share of golf.

By: Dan Staley

Dan Staley — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:20:30 +0000

What did The Elephant Man say? “I’m only human!”.

Oh, wait: I was going to write something positive. Never mind.

By: dan bertolet

dan bertolet — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:04:24 +0000

All true, my dear Beal. We are all hypocrites, more or less. How easy it was yesterday to get in my car and zip over to Alki beach so I could take a photo of the airplane banner in the next post and then rant about how evil cars are.

It is pretty much impossible to participate in our culture without being part of the problem — such an ingenious way to set up a society, no?

By: Beal

Beal — Tue, 26 May 2009 05:07:43 +0000

Sometimes I have this weird feeling like this blog is speaking to me. I’ve experienced some similar themes today, albeit applied to family and interpersonal relations. The sugarcoating that is requisite to denial is a pretty powerful drug. Who the hell wants to accept that we are all fucked (sorry, should I say “f*cked”?) by peak oil and global warming, when a little spin on the highway is so convenient, so easy, so effortless? But in the end it doesnt change the fact that we are FUCKED. Sorry, I mean, F*CKED. End of story.
As with that TOD bill that you were tracking so diligently, you can sugarcoat the message all you want to the public, to the neighborhoods, just as the burdened density advocates were forced to do…but time doesn’t slow down, and it doesn’t change the fact that inaction now will lead to irreversible consequences later.
So, yes, Leinberger, cheers for denial and sugarcoating. Sometimes I think we are all screwed, so let’s just enjoy the ride.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 26 May 2009 03:02:29 +0000

I’m reading a book right now called Edge City, about the development of edge cities, written in about 1990. I completely disagree with all of his commentary (basically saying that suburbanism is good and no one wants to live in dense cities) but it’s still very well written and very interesting.

By: Sivalinga

Sivalinga — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:53:25 +0000

“Reframing”… doubleplus good!

By: Sabina Pade

Sabina Pade — Mon, 25 May 2009 18:57:22 +0000

Leinberger talks good sense.

Only a small minority of people perceive global warming as an immediate existential threat, and are willing to significantly re-structure their lives with the aim of diminishing this threat.

A comparatively vast number of people, on the other hand, understand the monetary and logistical burden of maintaining large households situated distant from work and shopping.

Too, the extravagant public cost of health care for people who obstinately lead unhealthy lifestyles is likely to become a more openly discussed issue. Bluntly : life as a suburban couch potato might have less appeal to prospective potatoes if knew they would be obliged to pay for the medical treatment their car-bound, sedentary existence makes necessary.