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

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381–390 of 508 posts

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

#381

Similarly, I often wonder why cities don’t promote local telecommuting over building expensive public transportation infrastructure. Building one kilometre of subway costs anywhere from around $100 million to $1.6 billion ( https://marroninstitute.nyu.edu/events/how-much-does-it-cost... ), and then requires subsidies to run. Why not use this money to provide incentives for people to telecommute? And while some might…

We shouldn't forget that only a small portions of jobs are eligible to WFH. How the vast majority of non remote workers will commute to work?

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

#382

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).…

> and revitalized suburban neighborhoods (e.g. more walkable areas) Without other changes, this would not happen (in the US at least). The default would be every more cookie-cutter suburban sprawl, with the cul-de-sac-y construction of these neighborhoods creating a more labrynthian, difficult-to-walk place to live. Until there is more mixed-use zoning in the US, with high enough density to justify frequent public tr…

I'm okay with the current suburban model in many ways. For me it would make a difference is dedicated bike lanes. I walk for exercise my neighborhood and the labyrinth is a welcome pattern to reduce boredom.

Public transit will never work for me except under very rare circumstances. For what it's worth, I hate wasting my time traveling and cars are the only things fast enough make going anywhere vaguely tolerable. Amazon lets me avoid a lot of driving.

I get that you want to change things in the world but the only way to do it is not to say "it should be…" But find out what public office you need to hold, run the campaign, win the seat and then start trying to change from there. Then I can tell you from experience that you have to start local like planning board or zoning Board of appeals. Gain the trust of the people on the board listen to what people want. Once they feel heard they will hear you. If you go in guns blazing, everyone including potential allies will dig in their heels and say fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

Yes I've served on municipal boards and I have been told FU. Learned my lesson and then had my ideas heard. I didn't live there long enough to affect change but I learned a lot about local politics

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

#383

Back in 1964 Arthur C. Clarke predicted [1] that by the year 2000 cities as we know them would no longer exist. We would live in a world of instant communication where we could contact anyone on Earth without leaving our home. This technology would make it possible for many people to conduct business without having to be present at a specific physical location. Today, we know the technology Clarke was talking about a…

Did you mean that he overestimated social progress? Consider that he'd already moved to Sri Lanka in the 1950s, ostensibly out of his love for diving. He was primed to see the benefits of WFH and telecommunication, and certainly able to exploit the flexibility in his own life and career. Ironically, with his adventurism and individualism, perhaps his imagination was too limited to think that many people are self-limi…

I'm saying that he overestimated how quickly our society would adapt to the possibilities created by technology. Companies are not abstract entities, but the rituals aren't decided upon democratically. Companies are run like medieval fiefdoms where a small group of people at the top rules by fiat over the company. This problem would be much easier to solve under cooperative ownership model where such decisions can be made collectively be the people doing the work.

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

#384

There is nothing more illogical in modern society than commuting to an office every day. Employees waste 2 of their 16 available waking hours in the non-productive commute while incurring significant financial costs (lease/insurance/fuel/energy) in order to support this patently absurd activity. Employers waste time and energy negotiating leases, re-arranging offices, purchasing AV equipment for meeting rooms, etc.,…

"The idea of an office is almost offensively stupid. The business place. You come here to get on the computer." —InternetHippo, https://twitter.com/internethippo/status/1292842056008704000

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

#385

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…

It's interesting that you start your post by demythifying these people only to close it by rebuilding the myth again. It's like we can't accept they are just like us posting on HN.

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

#386
Can you give a properly researched article showing the environmental impact of commuting outweighs the environmental impact of working from home? My guess is that this won't always be true and will depend on the type and distance of commute as well as the additional heating/cooling demand required to keep multiple home offices habitable.

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

#388
post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, because of the expectation that partners will not be around 24/7, people may have been selecting sub-optimal partners. If remote work becomes the norm your standards for a long term partner may become higher as you need to ensure you do not get tired of being around them.

Interesting point. Would it reduce the "individualism" present in the US? I've always found it interesting how much companies market individualism (specially fashion companies). More intense individualism also makes it harder to find another person who can be tolerated due to their individualism.

I find if a person’s individualism is incompatible with yours, life can be harder for little to no increased benefit.

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

#389
post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The incentive to live in a dense environment is being close to work. If work is at home then that incentive is gone.

The incentive for living in a dense environment is that you get to use common infrastructure for power, water, sewage, health care etc, rather than running your own septic tank and so on. Even suburbia isn't dense enough to support those things

That is an incentive for somebody else who likes to tell other people how to live. Not for me. I bought a house in suburbia. My basement is filled with home lab, workshop (wood and 3D printing), indoor garden (wintertime leafy greens and starters for the spring), my partner's art studio in place to store telescopes.

Our yard has rhubarb, asparagus, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, apple trees. We are re-wilding the lawn to help encourage local insects and birds. I am working on my neighbors to shield their outdoor lights so that nocturnal creatures aren't messed up as much by nighttime lighting.

I figured out once that for me to live comfortably with all of my hobbies/WFH, my partner and her son, I need approximately 2500 ft.² of living/working space. I have lived in shit-a-brick 1500 square-foot urban apartments and it means isolation, earplugs so I can't hear my neighbors, and high blood pressure. I dropped all my hobbies and did nothing but work because the urban space, was for me, the embodiment of depression.

Our neighborhood is dense enough for public infrastructure. Many rooftops around here have solar which is great for distributed power. Sadly my house is circa 1920 with the slate roof and there is no way on cover up that beautiful structure with solar panels.

There are ways to build suburbia they give people room to live where they live. You just need a different perspective.

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

#390

There is nothing more illogical in modern society than commuting to an office every day. Employees waste 2 of their 16 available waking hours in the non-productive commute while incurring significant financial costs (lease/insurance/fuel/energy) in order to support this patently absurd activity. Employers waste time and energy negotiating leases, re-arranging offices, purchasing AV equipment for meeting rooms, etc.,…

It really depends on where you live. My (fortune 100 high tech) job has a 10 minute commute if I hit the lights right. Maybe the "illogical" issue is people living in high density massive population centers. To add, I live on a nice tree-lined street within walking distance of local schools and shopping. I don't live in some apartment near my place of employment.

How easy would be for you to change employer with similar commute?
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