Food for Thought

[brynndragon]

What do car pollution and homelessness have in common? A hockey-stick-curve instead of a bell-curve and solutions rendered impossible (or at least extremely difficult) by the human psyche: Million-Dollar Murray

Comments

[glenmarshall.livejournal.com]

The key difference, though, is that pollution is self-limiting by eventually killing its cause.

Homelessness consists of two significant populations: single-parent families, and people with intractible psychopathologies. There are not resolvable by a single approach. Yet neither is self-limiting.

[ectropy.livejournal.com]

That's an amazing article. The part that struck me the most (because it directly impacts my life) is the anti-pollution vans. I hope and pray that we can get something like that here.

[catya.livejournal.com]

What a fascinating read.

[roamin-umpire.livejournal.com]

It's a common knock that many political "solutions" to problems are merely cosmetic changes designed to make the policitians look good and to make the electorate feel better about themselves. But I've never seen it put in such damning terms before - and the point about it violating our ideas of fairness and responsibility are 100% dead on. I found myself wondering about who decides who gets the apartments, and just why they should be the ones deciding. But on the flip side, mswae is constantly telling me about just how much emergency room visits end up costing hospitals (and thus everyone indirectly through taxes and health insurance premiums).

I've been tempted to subscribe to The New Yorker for a while now. The only catch is, I'm not sure I'd have time to read it.

[horned1.livejournal.com]

I would agree, except the part about the solutions being rendered impossible or difficult by the human psyche. Pollution and homelessness are strictly "civilized" inventions, so really only one culture out of thousands throughout human history have had these problems. It would be therefore inaccurate to say that it is because of the human psyche since it has been a problem for such a short amount of time. :)

[fourgates.livejournal.com]

You may also find interesting the work of Roseanne Haggerty (http://www.thinkers.sa.gov.au/rhaggerty.html), who
advocates (http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/66/socialcapital.html)
revival of flophouses (http://www.commonground.org/?p=137)
in NYC (http://www.metropolismag.com/html/content_0402/ob/ob03_0402.html).