There was a quaint old time, shortly after Google was founded, where people mused about privacy over the internet. It was forgotten about as the profits started rolling in and pretty much all other companies started following along. That was the time when we started transitioning into a period of massive data surveillance. Glad to see that the conversation is starting to pick up again in some areas, though it’s definitely being actively suppressed in many others.

GDPR desperately needed on the other side of the pond…

And another thing: we often complain about not having enough density, but having too much density in a small, single area can be a major problem too. So while this might be controversial (not to mention unrealistic), I really wish we could reduce the skyscrapers. They’re just unnecessarily tall and concentrate far too much in too small of an area[1].

But if you walk around most major European cities like Amsterdam, The Hague, Munich, Milan, Copenhagen, Stockholm, etc. you don’t see gigantic skylines or massive skyscrapers. You see endless roads with dense, multi-level housing (3-5 stories), and plenty of mixed-use space. It makes cities more spread out, but still dense enough to have a useful public transit system. More schools, more parks, more commercial space (and more diverse uses of commercial space too).

Oh well, I can dream…

[1]: While there are some residential buildings over 300m tall, most them are concentrated in supercities like New York, Dubai, Moscow, and various Chinese/other Asian cities and require much larger populations than you have in most other major cities in Canada/North America.

I’m sure people are trying to address the problems, I’m not saying that’s not happening. What I find maddening however is the double standard between how issues are handled when it’s fossil fuels vs. green energy. Every tiny issue with green energy is breathlessly amplified, while there’s no shortage of idiotic solutions to resolve issues in carbon-based energy infrastructure.

It’s this atmosphere that I’m trying to raise awareness of and change!

If the infrastructure can’t handle it, then upgrade the fucking infrastructure! Politicians will fall at voters’ feet to build new roads, highways, etc., but when it comes to the green energy transition, there’s no problem too minuscule to be ignored!

I’ll happily admit that there are going to be many issues in the green energy transition; we should acknowledge them, but we should also strive to address them, rather than throwing our hands up in the air and idly promulgating the status quo.