Tale of Two Mentalities

We Are Both Misguided and Well Informed

Today's NYTimes.com has two articles that come from two different realities.  I couldn't pass this up without a comment.  These days "amazing" must be way more so to kick over the threshold of "gotta blog about it."

First I read "Activists Fight Green Projects, Seeing U.N. Plot"

Its about Tea Party types who believe the U.N. is trying to undermine our freedoms and American Way of Life by encouraging hiking trails and reducing greenhouse gases.  Just a sample:

"Across the country, activists with ties to the Tea Party are railing against all sorts of local and state efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy. They brand government action for things like expanding public transportation routes and preserving open space as part of a United Nations-led conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities.

They are showing up at planning meetings to denounce bike lanes on public streets and smart meters on home appliances — efforts they equate to a big-government blueprint against individual rights."  The Good Life, suburbia, everybody in their cars!

Now that's just nuts. (But it explains the frantic effort of hard-righters to defund bike paths, open spaces, etc.)

Here is the NYTimes picture of one of these meetings -- the Tea Party Types have torn themselves away from watching Fox News or listening to righty radio.

Then I read "Communities Learn the Good Life Can Be a Killer"

It's about how bike paths, open space, etc. can improve public health and extend lifetimes, especially in the suburbs.  Did you know this little fact?  "In 1974, 66 percent of all children walked or biked to school By 2000, that number had dropped to 13 percent.  “Children who grow up in suburbia can’t meet their life needs without getting a ride somewhere.”

So there is the case of Atlanta:   "Metropolitan Atlanta, which is 8,000 square miles and growing and where workers drive an average of 66 miles a day, has suffered the ill effects of high ozone levels, few sidewalks and bike lanes, and crosswalks as much as a mile apart. In what may be the crown jewel in environmental restructuring for better health, the city plans to create an urban paradise from an abandoned railroad corridor over the next two decades, with light rail and 22 miles of walking and biking trails."   Here's a NYTimes picture:

Looks like a U.N. plot to me.

Stay sane, pardners.