This column is not unusual – an opinion piece in the New York Times on climate change:
The climate has changed, and the only remaining questions may well be: a) how bad will things get, and b) how long will it be before we wake up to it. The only sane people who don’t see this as a problem are those whose profitability depends on the status quo …
But the source is interesting: the Times food critic, Mark Bittman. Apparently we have to go to the Food pages now to get comment on what constitutes a civilizational threat. The front pages cover the extreme weather while the editorial pages tell us why we have to double down on energy production.
And meanwhile, out in Surrey, the Province is pushing as fast as it can to build more highway infrastructure.
Yesterday, the South Fraser Perimeter Road construction:
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Highway 1:
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Port Mann Bridge:
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No money for express transit to go over the Port Mann Bridge, however – nor for the development of a frequent transit network South of the Fraser.
No wonder, then, that people go into denial – not about climate change, the weather is doing its job in convincing people of that – but about our ability to do anything about it, to change our way of life or simply stop spending resources on things that will make it worse.
Minimalist transportation infrastructure this is not.
I understand Mark Bittman has been moved onto the NYT op-ed pages from the Food section– maybe because he’s so good, or food issues are fundamental to national security, climate change, health care costs, poverty…