Kyoto Nonsense
Den Beste returns with a bang, posting the best damn analysis of the sham that is the Kyoto Treaty that I've seen this year (maybe longer).
Den Beste picks up on an interesting point: the anti-growth, anti-liberty crowd can't win on the straight merits of their case, so they've resorted to all sorts of tangential issues to accomplish the same thing. To stop foresting (despite modern techniques that actually result in healthier forests than ever), they resort to the spotted owl issue. To stop the U.S. economic engine that powers the world, they resort to Kyoto. It's always something.
Here in Houston, it's the 55 MPH speed limit. The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission recently decided to drop the 70 MPH speed limit in Houston's metro area to 55 MPH, allegedly to bring Houston into compliance with clean air standards. I write "allegedly" because there's really little scientific evidence that such a drop is going to have much of an effect at all. For one thing, it's the heavy industry surrounding Houston (coupled with Houston's geographical/meteorological situation) that is responsible for most of the pollution; for another, it's cars sitting stalled in traffic that emit the most pollution, not cars going 15 MPH faster than the current limit on unclogged freeways.
All the new regulations really do is assert control over motorists, and make it harder to get around Houston, which is a sprawling Metro Area. And THAT LAST is the real target of the environmental crowd. They've never been able to get voters to embrace zoning in Houston (so they can mandate "efficient" high-density living) and they've only forced voters recently to accept (grudgingly) some experiments with light rail for mass transit. But if they make the freeways a real pain in the ass even when there is no traffic on them, they suddenly make their real agenda much more attractive.
Thankfully, Houston voters and motorists seem not to be buying it. Houston blogger and political compatriot Rob Booth, whom I've just discovered, points out this Chron article, in which the TNRCC seems to be leaning towards lifting the ridiculous speed limits. That's good. Jimmy Carter's 55 MPH speed limits did nothing to counter his disastrous anti-market energy policies (coupled with his general belief in the inevitability of American decline) and were wholly misguided. TNRCC's speed limits should die as well (though much more quickly) -- and, as Rob suggests, politicians OUGHT to take some heat for the manner in which this unelected, unaccountable body imposed them in the first place.
(06-03-2002 Update) It's good to know that Marvin Zindler is on the case. It's even better to know that there is so little crime in Houston that cops are free enough to line up on the freeways and set speed traps. Funny, but the crime statistics don't seem to suggest that at all.
(06-08-2002 Update) This letter to the Chron underscores the point that really this has little to do with the science of clean air:
Philosophers and poets have said it ad infinitum: Slow down and pay attention to what you are doing right here, right now.I'm disappointed that none of the discussions of speed on our highways ever relates to our psychology, which is deeply part of the problem.
Americans win the prize for doing everything fast, excelling at speed but not necessarily quality. Our desire to cram as much stuff into our daily schedules requires that we not stand for impediments -- slow drivers or speed limits.
Skimming recent drivers' responses to the new 55-mph speed limit, I found several who might be contenders for a possible "road-rager of the year" award.
Eastern philosophy calls it mindfulness.
Our roads would be safer and commutes more tolerable (perhaps, even enjoyable) if we would think less about the time and other distractions and concentrate on the road.
Even if the science doesn't confirm that 55 mph leads to cleaner air, we may find it leads to a more spiritual view.
Devin Zimmerman, Tomball
[Posted at 09:49 CST on 06/02/02] [Link]
