Over the holidays, down in Wellington, I somehow constantly found myself in conversations about ālocal politicsā ā¦ council, city, region ā¦ and dare I even say national? (On a global scale ānational thinkingā for a small country like New Zealand is still ālocalā.) No need to talk about the topics discussed - the usual, but my recurring observation that was never rejected is that long term planning anywhere for housing, climate change, infrastructure, EV cars, bike lanes ā¦ you name it .. is never that long term because the elected officials - even if they had the vision .. and often they donātā (but that is a different story) - donāt think beyond their election cycle.
As a result it is a brave group of politicians that put in place 25 to 30 year plans for anything ā¦ much less real long term!
Enter š The Ministry for the Future - New Ideas From Ancient Wisdom. - with my highlights and annotations on Readwise. Itās not quite the same idea and far more āfinancially technicalā than I might ever hope to completely understand - much less explain - but it is all connected and makes for a fascinating - if technical - read.
Unless you’re a policy wonk or a certain kind of federal contractor, you can be forgiven for not knowing what the discount rate is.
BUT - so you know ā¦
Seperately …
š¼ A Long Now talk from Kim Stanley Robinson : Climate Futures: Beyond 02022 (referenced in the article, not yet watched - but is now in my queue). Also, that 02022 is not a typo - itās a āLong Nowā year. I like them just from that simple switch in thinking. It positions us in time very differently to 2022. (Not sure if it is also unseen inspiration behind the numbering system of my series for 2024.)
ānuff said for now. Suffice to say, I am going to do some further exploring around the āsocial discount rateā. This bear hadn’t stumbled across it previously - but it seems to be an excellent way of thinking about a reason why āourā policies are so broken.
