At Scientific American (August 19, 2011), Cynthia Rosenzweig reports that “All Climate Is Local: Mayors are often better equipped than presidents to cut greenhouse gases” – which bears some resemblance to what UD News was trying to say in “A design perspective on saving (local) endangered species:
Frustrated by the ongoing diplomatic stalemate, a number of urban leaders have decided to take matters into their own hands, adopting solutions that already exist or inventing new ones for limiting greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for the effects of ongoing global warming.
Many of the “urban leaders’” environmental regulations are just plain stupid but the critical factor is that is that local people (intelligent agents) – who know the regs are stupid – are affected by them and are monitoring them. That beats remote bureaucracy cold. Dead.
Once upon a time two years ago some UD staff members attempted to “sort” garbage into the approved Toronto Transit Commission bins. As it happened, the pickup crew were there, and they said,
Aw ferGIT it!” Don’t waste your time or ours! It all goes into these big bags here, and then into a fleet of trucks and then into an incinerator somewhere in the States.
Score one for stupid and dishonest Transit Commission. But most people know now. Intelligent agents, remember?