Jim wrote:
I have a bit of a problem with this idea that environmentalism and economics are mortal enemies. There has to be some middle ground.
In fact, in the long run, environmentalism makes good business sense. The problem is that so many businesses in this country don't take the long run into account - next week, next month, maybe next year, but five years from now? WTF cares.
We face them all over. I'll give you an example. My wife's relatives get together for a family reunion in Barnegat, NJ every year, at a modest ranch on the lagoon. People are buying up those houses on those small lots, tearing them down and putting up *HUGE* McMansions in their place, filling up the property to the point of bursting. Frankly, I can't see how the local infrastructure can handle it. And they'll be the first ones to bitch when the weather goes south on them, or when someone builds something bigger across the street, ruining "their" view.
Yea, we get the same kind of thing around here. In Palo Alto, with some of the most expensive real estate in the country, they've had to pass an ordinance to keep people from building mansions on postage stamp sized lots that used to have cottages on them. And the tiny lots they put new houses on are ridiculous.
I think it's just human nature to have myopic tunnel vision. We all do it, to some extent.
Indeed we do. -- Doug _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
