I have thought that many of the ideals of us leaning to the left have run counter to consumptive culture. Dependency on cars versus climate change, single family homes versus attempts to curb sprawl, population growth versus the dream of a limited growth economy.
With the fires raging in California, I've read that Governor Newsome has issued an emergency order lifting some of the burdensome environmental red tape, which has been quite a thicket in California. This move to allow for rebuilding of burned areas at a more affordable rate.
Myself, rather than being a radical on "stick it to business" red tape, I understand the need for society to work. At the same time, I am somewhat of a critic of much of our culture ranging from population growth to over dependency on private automobiles to basing one's self esteem on one's wealth and career status.
I think, maybe, the best we can do toward a more sustainable world is incremental changes; a bike path here, transit there, incremental decrease in the size of homes and awareness of what kind of society we should have to be in more harmony with the natural environment.
Bellingham has recently taken a good step to reduce parking requirements for new developments in order to try and allow for more affordable housing.
I notice some people, on the left, think this is a sellout to big developers who want to build and reap profits from less requirements. Some people say we have to have cars as it's "reality."
Less regulation, such as less parking requirements can, however, make it easier for mom and pop landlords to incrementally build. This might make it easier for smaller business to compete against the bigger developers who have more money for lawyers to navigate them through tickets of regulation.
As for the never ending need for more parking, Bellingham's infrastructure is admittedly getting more cluttered with cars. On street parking is getting fuller, unless people are willing to walk farther from where they have parked (a cultural change) than they are use to.
To accommodate more cars, I doubt we will ever be able to afford widening I-5 through Bellingham. We could go to six, or maybe even 8 lanes to try and reduce the chock point. Self driving technology might help us add more cars to the existing 4 lanes, however.
Anyway, without cultural change, it looks like many environmental regulations will need to go.
