> I AM referring to the parasites that think because they are in charge of some
> government department that the taxpayer has to fund some extravenganza
> with grand dinners and photo ops so they can have their 15 minutes of fame,
> and actually contribute nothing to a solution.
The number of such things is tiny compared to all governmental activities each year. The amount of carbon emitted is excruciatingly small compared to all carbon emitted each year. Yes, there have been a few cases where high-level officials authorized conferences that make no particular sense. Those stupid conferences can be about various things. They are no more likely to be about environmental issues than about anything else. They often are exposed in news stories and the high-level official is often fired for wasting money.
I suspect that the frequency of such money-wasting conferences (and other offsite events) is probably higher in private industry than in government. So why do you hear about the government ones and not the private industry ones? Because the assumption is that we’re obliged to spend all our time examining any conceivably wasteful government action. On the other hand, private companies largely get a pass on this. The assumption is often that if you criticize private companies for their coddling of their high-level executives, you must be a communist.
Unlike you, I am cynical enough to believe that nothing will be done by humans to actually make a difference, because it would make our lives more inconvenient. Who would take a public bus to work if they could take their car instead- not many, as evidenced by the traffic jams in major cities like London, Bangkok, Beijing and Jakarta during rush hour.
End of the day, the vast majority of humanity are either trying to make enough money to buy a car, or too engrossed in their stupidphone to care about the environment.
Certainly not helped by countries like Japan and Germany going from nuclear to carbon based electricity production.
My beef is that public servants should be setting an example, and that their junkets are paid for by taxes on the population.
As long as there is a “free” society, no one can stop private companies and individuals from doing whatever they like as long as it doesn’t break the law.
Unlike you I have the evidence that we did it before, regardless of how many influential people of the day claimed that it could not be done or that the end of civilization as we know it would result when we cleaned up our act…
Well, the old ways did end indeed, no one can say now that getting rid of that past way to do businesses of having people to die regularly from cholera or other diseases was not a good thing.
My coworkers. Most of my current team has as their main complaint for our current project that, because of its location, they need to commute by car: that way their total commute takes about two hours, whereas by public transportation we’d be talking more than five.
That’s 2h vs 5+h time dedicated to work, but unpaid because it’s less than 70km from their houses.
There is another coworker who got assigned specifically because he lives in the town where the client is located; I needed to get a flat in the area anyway so I got it in town. We’re happy because we walk to work.
My cousin has lived in Barcelona her whole life. She got her driving license at 43: her boyfriend is diabetic and they like taking short trips. I usually go visit Grandma on Sundays; this week I’ll be going on Saturdays because Cousin and her boyfriend will be at the Sitges festival - they’re traveling by train, of course. Parking in Sitges is a nightmare without the festival on; with it on, you need Romero directing traffic.
Two of the coworkers I had in Costa Rica were from Madrid, had gotten their licenses at 18 but had never owned a car; one of them had not driven again since getting the license. Since he was 43, that means 25 years during which he’d never needed to drive.
Perhaps those people that you think can commute by public transportation… cannot?
Add: there is one person in my team who would be taking the car anyway. The project manager (aka salesman in charge). His day is spent running from client to client all over the province, he can’t depend on public transportation. The running is literal: he’s one of those people who pay for a lawyer specialized in contesting traffic tickets.
Your first paragraph only goes to prove that some governments won’t do what is necessary as it would be unpopular, ie provide more public transport to all areas- tax goes up; and make public transport faster by giving it priority over cars- car owners would bitch loudly.
IMO, make public transport fast, efficient and convenient, and make car travel long and inconvenient. That will soon make cars owners leave the beast at home, and just use it for leisure activities.
Sounds like Madrid has got it right.
I never had a car in London, as public transport is great there.
There IS a ton of public transportation. Those people who are complaining, are complaining because they’re used to being able to use public transportation pretty much door to door and without stages.
In fact, public transportation is available. What it’s not in these cases and due to the relative locations of their houses and the job site is convenient public transportation. For example, today I’m going to go visit Grandma. Possible routes include:
local bus or walk to train station, alternatively
walk to area bus,
followed by
train to Sagrera, Arc de Triomf, Plaça Catalunya or Sants (it’s all the same line, which on Saturdays and Sundays goes every half an hour)
followed by
subway to Sagrada Familia or Verdaguer,
or bus to 10m away from Grandma’s home,
or walk, which is my preferred mode but that’s cos I happen to like it (plus if I leave the train in Arc de Triomf, it will be faster than a bus if I just missed the two bus lines I could use)
Total time can be between 1:30 and 2:45m though, depending on traffic and timeliness. Sometimes I get to Grandma’s 1h ahead of time, sometimes 15min late. Driving would be faster, if I had a parking space at her house (which I don’t, but my coworkers do have parking spaces at theirs).
People from Barcelona are used to considering anything more complicated than “take the subway, switch once in a place with a short exchange” as akin to a dentist’s visit. Buses and taxis get their own lane in any multi-lane street, as well as being able to turn in places where a regular driver can’t: they do have priority.
Oh, hell, I left out the area bus route, after having started it. That one goes to Plaça Catalunya: take one of the same buses that goes from Arc de Triomf, or subway to Verdaguer. For this route, I prefer to walk from PC to Urquinaona, as otherwise you need to switch elsewhere and the exchanges are actually longer - from the bus stop in PC to Urquinaona it’s one block.
My coworkers. Most of my current team has as their main complaint for our current project that, because of its location, they need to commute by car: that way their total commute takes about two hours, whereas by public transportation we’d be talking more than five.