First Principles

I’ve always said that people who think global warming is the existential threat its proponents claim it is should go all in.  They should ban Christmas lights, street lights, impose blackout-like energy curfews, enforce limits on home sizes, etc.  We could go back to WWII style gas ration cards, and ban unecessary road trips.  People should be arrested for going to Burning Man if they have to travel more than 50 miles by car.

Finally – someone is taking steps in that direction!

The good folks in Madison, Wisconsin are proposing all kinds of good stuff:

According to the “Broad Strategies” section of a meeting agenda recently posted on the City of Madison Web site, an ordinance being considered would force city zoning to account for and mitigate climate change:

“10. Zoning should adapt to meet the demands of climate change; use zoning to address or mitigate effects, or adapt to climate change; remove any barriers to mitigating the effects, adapting to climate change (trees, green space, mobility, renewable energy, land use).”

Another item in the “Broad Strategies” section has a grim outlook for the future. It includes a proposal that spells out a doomsday scenario – allowing for the city to function should shortages in energy and food occur:

“11. Write the code to allow the city to function when automobile travel will be severely limited and oil-related products, including food and heating fuel, become prohibitively expensive because of the scarcity and high-cost of fuel.”

Other proposals throughout the document would push for use of alternative energies (solar, geothermal and wind), conservation, electric cars and urban agriculture. Other more Draconian regulations throughout the document would:

* Limit waterfront development in the name of water sustainability,
* Require two trees to be planted if one is removed from your property
* Limit the “number/density of fast food outlets and drive-through windows” in the name of public health
* Discourage individual parking options to promote public transportation usage

But that’s actually not all.  They literally propose limiting dwelling square footage, fining companies who leave signs on at night, forcing changes in plumbing so you can must irrigate your mandatory greenspaces with your dishwater, restricting or eliminating downtown parking, letting your neighbor turn their house into a market, and banning garages that are too big.

They want to control every aspect of Madisonian’s lives at home, at work, and everywhere in between – all around the clock.

I hope they’re successful in implementing it.

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This is the kind of thing that will drive wealthy people and businesses (read: job creators) from the city.  It will turn ordinary people against such policies.  It will bankrupt the poor and make home ownership for urban professionals a pipe dream.  The upside is that Madison’s suburbs will profit handsomely, and us U of Minnesota alumni will have that much more ammunition to make fun of the Cheeseheads.

Support for less obviously intrusive but no less expensive, onerous, and useless global warming fixes would evaporate.

The best effect, however, would be to highlight the absurd inevitability of a philosophy which does not put a premium on human needs and individual liberty.