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Ask HN: Why isn't remote work advertised as a pro environment initiative?

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Re: Ask HN: Why isn't remote work advertised as a pro environment initiative?

#231

Post by sitkack »

beachtaxidriver wrote: post #132
deepGem wrote: post #79

Two main problems 1. Middle and senior management who don't want to lose control or be rendered less effective. 2. Engineers who are not trained in written communication and largely cannot autonomously move a group towards a goal without a lot of supervision. If you solve for no 2, then that acts counter to no 1 - because middle management will be questioned - why do we need you ? If a group of engineers can function…

I also think that junior new engineers are less productive remote, because they can't absorb the context and experience of their more senior coworkers. Probably the only group made more productive are senior independent engineers.

> can't absorb the context and experience of their more senior coworkers

How so? What prevents that? I don't believe it, but people like saying it without evidence.

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't remote work advertised as a pro environment initiative?

#232

Post by [deleted] »

ako wrote: post #193
osigurdson wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Or does he want you to get back into your office and work a 16 hour day? I'm OK with working 16 hour days on something that matters (obviously burn out needs to be kept in check - it can't be done forever). I realize that I might be "wired" differently than others as I care a bit less about work life balance and more about accomplishment (not proud of it). I see no reason why this can't be done at the beach house…

Not sure how a 16 hour workday fits if you also need to sleep, shop, cook, clean, take care of the kids, keep in contact with your friends and family, and exercise.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't remote work advertised as a pro environment initiative?

#233

Post by opportune »

krageon wrote: post #229
Someone1234 wrote: post #46

Because corporations are doing the majority of that pro-environmental advertising. I mean that both in terms of companies making changes (both real and greenwashing) and the News/Media corporations reporting on it. Telecommuting could be absolutely massive for reduced emissions, could bring down urban house prices, improve inter-family relationships, and revitalized suburban neighborhoods (e.g. more walkable areas).…

Exactly this is the reason, but I'll go even further and say that no corporation will advertise something "green" that might require actual effort on their part. The clear fact is that environmental impact is almost entirely the fault of corporations. Advertising for consumers to do anything to impact this is distracting them from the real issue: the corporations advertising to them. It is for this reason that you wi…

In my experiencing greenwashing is just as likely to be used to shame normal consumer behavior into reducing costs for businesses (do you really want those plastic utensils with your takeout? Do you really need to use that much water in your hotel room? Do you really need fresh towels every day?) as it is to actually help the environment.

Most of the time corporations claim to be doing something in a carbon-neutral way it's because they are purchasing offsets where you just have to believe that they are actually computing the carbon costs appropriately and the offsets are "real" anyway.

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't remote work advertised as a pro environment initiative?

#234

Post by jahewson »

revskill wrote: post #59

Because most of workers have not enough pro-ability to adapt a remote working environment. More details, to work remotely efficiently, you need to: - Have good writing skills, because communication is asynchronous most of the time. - Task description needs to be as clear as possible ! You don't want to spend most of time to explain what the specification means. - Self-management and time management: How to do things…

Actually those are just the skills you need to work efficiently in any knowledge-work environment. The people who lack those just suck up everyone else’s time.

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't remote work advertised as a pro environment initiative?

#235

Post by rhacker »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #220
bilekas wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Musk's text message conversation during Twitter-lawsuit discovery I only saw this now : https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/09/elon-... It's actually kind of incredible how it all seems to work. The cringe too of the fawning is a good indicator why Musk feels he can do whatever he likes, including attempting to troll everyone on his board. It seems so juvenile.

I don't think it's that weird, there not a lot of differences between people at the top or at the bottom. It's the fact that they were idealized that makes this dip into their intimacy so strange. But basically, those communications look a lot like ones that I would have with my own friends. And when I was a students, we were careful about spending 10 euros. Now, we have casual chats about buying a sauna for the gard…

So, TLDR is One does not simply "drive" into mordor?

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't remote work advertised as a pro environment initiative?

#236

Post by tobr »

I’m just sample size = 1. I switched to telecommuting during the pandemic, which let me move away from the city. Instead of taking public transportation to the office and walking to the store, I now walk to the (home) office and take the car to the store.

So while I’m certainly spending a lot less time in total on transportation, the mode of transportation is much worse for the environment.

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't remote work advertised as a pro environment initiative?

#237

Post by futureshock »

krageon wrote: post #229
Someone1234 wrote: post #46

Because corporations are doing the majority of that pro-environmental advertising. I mean that both in terms of companies making changes (both real and greenwashing) and the News/Media corporations reporting on it. Telecommuting could be absolutely massive for reduced emissions, could bring down urban house prices, improve inter-family relationships, and revitalized suburban neighborhoods (e.g. more walkable areas).…

Exactly this is the reason, but I'll go even further and say that no corporation will advertise something "green" that might require actual effort on their part. The clear fact is that environmental impact is almost entirely the fault of corporations. Advertising for consumers to do anything to impact this is distracting them from the real issue: the corporations advertising to them. It is for this reason that you wi…

This is it right here. There’s been an enormous amount of blame shifting onto consumers, who have almost nothing to do with environmental impacts, as if not using plastic straws could have any impact whatsoever. This is intentional on the part of government as it confuses voters into thinking the problem has been solved or is a moral failing.

Our leaders know full well that consumers and corporations have no power to act on this themselves. They will suck up any resources presented to them in the lowest energy configuration. Capitalism demands it. Regulation and governance is the only solution to tragedy of the commons. All else is noise being created by leaders who have been bought and paid for.

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't remote work advertised as a pro environment initiative?

#238

Post by jahewson »

alistairSH wrote: post #63
lm28469 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you heat a house if you're not in it. Do people really do that ?

Typical American house uses a heat pump (basically an AC run "backwards") with a single thermostat (bigger houses might have multiple complete systems). If you turned the heat off at 7am as you left for work, the house would probably be below 60 when you got home, and take most of the evening to reheat, only to be turned back down again at bed time. I don't know anybody who manually does any of this - at best, they h…

No heat pumps are a new thing here. Not typical at all. Most people have gas furnaces.

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't remote work advertised as a pro environment initiative?

#239

Post by adamsmith143 »

sershe wrote: post #226
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Employees waste 2 of their 16 I suspect that you don't commute to a large city (either via car or mass transit). It's more like 4-6 hours. Crazy.

I commute from a large-ish city to its suburb, my commute is 15-18 minutes. Anecdotes are not data... average commute in the US is like 20-30mins. I suspect most people who can be fully remote (i.e. are not in service industry) can afford to move instead of commuting 3 hours one way.

So actually not a large city at all? Hard to believe there's there's actually a commute from Suburb to Downtown in under 20 minutes during rush hour for any of the 20 largest cities in the US.

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't remote work advertised as a pro environment initiative?

#240

Post by itake »

chitowneats wrote: post #194
itake wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am SWE and Engineering Manager. I find open offices to be way more distracting b/c people discuss topics relevant to me (project work or even good morning hellos). Public libraries are quieter than my office and coffee shop noise is background noise. Lack of external monitors is a fair concern, but I found external monitors to be too distracting. I only need to look at one thing at a time. I don't want random thing…

It's not the external monitor I'm looking for. It's single monitor larger than a laptop screen and a usable keyboard. I fold my laptop screen closed. Also, I want to be around for relevant conversations. Context switching is not an issue for me as long it's not unrelated to work (or something unobtrusive like "hello"). To each their own I suppose.

I carry around a Roost laptop stand and external keyboard and mouse, but setting them up and tearing them down every day is a bit annoying.
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