Sure: if school is closed, employers are letting people telework, and people are limiting their shopping and leisure activities.
"nothing much changes."
Critical facilities have employees sleep onsite and stockpile provisions. Schools are closed, leaving working parents scrambling. People stock up on food in advance, eliminating many shopping trips. These are all major changes!
People CAN adapt to reductions in transport capacity for short periods. But it isn't without (significant!) cost, and it doesn't say anything about whether such adaptations are sustainable outside of occasional, brief emergencies.
We’ve had the snow on the ground for a week and a half, mostly people are doing normal things. I guess part of my point is that we adapt to the capacity we have. It’s a related insight to “work fills the available time” or “stuff fills the available space” - you can’t distinguish what you “need” from what you do because it’s frictionlessly possible
People only have to do all that stuff because of our car dependance, though. Cars are ultimately poorly suited to the winter.
And at any rate, people only do all that in case the roads aren't plowed at all. Not due to snow narrowing the roadways or taking up a few extra parking spots. Which itself unveils quite a bit of fragility in our system.
"That is how wide the sidewalk could be!"
Sure: if school is closed, employers are letting people telework, and people are limiting their shopping and leisure activities.
"nothing much changes."
Critical facilities have employees sleep onsite and stockpile provisions. Schools are closed, leaving working parents scrambling. People stock up on food in advance, eliminating many shopping trips. These are all major changes!
People CAN adapt to reductions in transport capacity for short periods. But it isn't without (significant!) cost, and it doesn't say anything about whether such adaptations are sustainable outside of occasional, brief emergencies.
We’ve had the snow on the ground for a week and a half, mostly people are doing normal things. I guess part of my point is that we adapt to the capacity we have. It’s a related insight to “work fills the available time” or “stuff fills the available space” - you can’t distinguish what you “need” from what you do because it’s frictionlessly possible
People only have to do all that stuff because of our car dependance, though. Cars are ultimately poorly suited to the winter.
And at any rate, people only do all that in case the roads aren't plowed at all. Not due to snow narrowing the roadways or taking up a few extra parking spots. Which itself unveils quite a bit of fragility in our system.
Yes