Friedman on "The Green Road Less Traveled"
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.16.07
"Imagine a day when you will go online and buy a pass to drive into any major urban area and the price of your pass will be set by whether you are driving a hybrid or a Hummer, the time of day you want to drive, the road you want to use and how much carbon your car trip will emit." That day is here in London and Stockholm and may be coming to New York, and Thomas Friedman loves the idea. "It is already proving to be the most effective short-term way to clean up polluted city air, promote energy efficiency and create more livable urban centers, while also providing mayors with unexpected new revenue." and lets the rich folk get to their offices faster while improving bus service for everyone else by keeping the riffraff off the roads.
He points out that Stockholm's system is built and run by IBM, and that the way to rebuild America's industrial sector is to create green collar jobs that are more difficult to outsource. "Which jobs are most easily outsourced? The ones vulnerable to cheap labor. Which jobs are hardest to outsource? Those that require a lot of knowledge." Worth reading (although a little bit too much green flagwaving, as is Friedman's wont) at the ::New York Times and read also Charles Komanoff in ::Grist.
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I love Friedman because he has the habit of talking with other insightful bold thinkers and presenting their ideas in a larger context, with a bit of interpretation thrown in. In the parlance of scenario thinking he is a "horizon scanner."
What drives me nuts about him is that he only presents one scenario at a time. No one can predict the future. Other equally plausible and economically attractive futures for urban transportation can also be put together. Most of you reading this are capable of coming up with one we might call "Peak Oil Comes Early."
The best decisions for urban transit planning are those which will work under at least three highly plausible scenarios (a.k.a "robust" decisions). If we limit out thinking to one Friedman at a time we are increasing our chances at failure and will come up with another "no one could imagine that this would happen" future (just like "9/11).
Thanks for posting this.
However, Tom Friedman's column is part of the NY Times "select" group of articles that can be read only by paying for
a separate on-line subscription.
Is it possible to post the whole article?
Tom's a billionaire, so it's easy for him to sit there an applaud all these cost increases, as they won't affect his travel in the least. Seems like he's a big fan of Lexus Lanes.
there's already a way to cost driving per mile, proportional to CO2 emmitted, and the fuel efficiency of the vehicle, and that's taxing petrol. why bother with anything else that is expensive and complicated?
I had heard there was an easy way around the http://www.nytimes.com sign on requirement to easily read full articles?