Climate Change & Telework

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do have a really great public transportation system. I’ve been taking bus plus metro to commute to work for that past 20 years because of my concern for the environment.

That's fortunate that you have the ability to use public transit. But WaPo has run multiple articles in the last few days about how ridership is down and time spent in traffic is longer than before.

Falling ridership and increased commuting means all of the RTO crap is directly working against all of the climate-driven policies. Yay -- more government inefficiency and waste. They should either allow max telework for those who can or cut the sanctimonious, fake climate concern. Can't have it both ways.

Did you get banned from metro? Otherwise, why can't you take it?

Lots of people I know (including my spouse and me in Moco and Howard) have places of employment that are nowhere close to metro. Not about to take a 30-45 minute commute and turn it into 2+ hours with buses. Besides, the entire point is the disconnect between the climate crisis and commuting policies. It's mind-blowing that governments think they should mandate what cars and appliances people buy before strongly encouraging telework.

Love the biases and lack of reading skills on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

In my office we used to telework 1 day a week pre-pandemic, now we telework 2-3 days a week. Seems like a substantial decrease in commuting time and we still get the benefits of in-person work as long as I don’t have to listen to people whining about coming in. It is really getting exhausting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We chose to buy a modest house near a metro rather than a giant McMansion way out in the distant burbs. Our commute will never require driving. Perhaps you should examine your choices and how they contribute to climate change?

That's what I live in--a modest house near three Metro stations. But because of poor Metro service my commute which used to be 40 minutes is now an hour. The Metro is now dangerous and dirty, especially compared to what it was 30 years ago. I should have bought the McMansion.

[Anonymous]

The really offensive climate change offenders are the corps that are pushing not just for RTO, but for return to airplane travel. My office is now back to routinely flying people all over the US and int'l for meetings that can be done virtually. I'm convinced it's all a conspiracy driven either by the airplane lobby or because it's all wink-wink with the big shots knowing that without business travel, they'll lose status and those free upgrades on their vacays. They make up excuses to go places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently heard a bunch of federal and state government agencies give presentations on how dire the climate situation is. Maryland government said they are going to push everyone to buy electric cars and get rid of gas home appliances. DC tried to act like their government is concerned about climate too.

With the crazy push to RTO, even for people that can effectively work from home, how can they seriously stand there and say they care about climate change? Commutes are worse than pre-COVID. So sick of government leaders lying to us.

There is no “crazy push to RTO”. There’s a nudge, a suggestion, and hope for RTO for the sake of the District and business interests. The crazy push for RTO will come when the Chief Executive (i.e. President - at least for feds) says it is time.