Local legend states that Shel Silverstein visited Prince George, got frustrated by this route, and wrote most of the poem that night in his hotel room.

Whether that's true or not, I have no idea. I've never been able to find any confirmation anywhere, but the locals are quite firm in their belief that it's true.

And whether it's true or not, it's kind of neat to stand in that spot and think of the poem. Thanks for rekindling some memories!

 Reply

With that many tailpipes, the odds aren't looking great.

On a side note, can we ease off on the whole issue of California's CO2 standards already? Even we admit that they are fucking stringent, but if you had been to LA twenty years ago, you would understand why. It used to be that you couldn't spend more than a few minutes outside for fear of asphyxiation.

 Reply

Smog is localized, CO2 is not.

Curbing C02 emissions is a global issue, but at least within in the US, it should be a national law passed through the standard federal process.

 Reply

But your last sentence doesn't make a lot of sense. If the brown cloud only blocks out LA or Denver, then that means it is local.

Back to my original point: the reason CA was granted a waiver for stricter smog controls is because CA (and a few other regions) have a justifiable interest in keeping pollutants low: a dense car population.

The logic doesn't apply to CO2 emissions. CA (and a dozen other states) changing their CO2 regs wouldn't mean a damn thing for overall greenhouse gas emissions.

This is more of a work-around for CA to use its market to set national policy by default, when maybe there isn't the political support for it on a national level.

 Reply

And yes, there should be uniform national (or, better yet, international) standards for emissions, fuel economy and crash safety.

Finally, all of the above is JMHO.

 Reply

Reducing CO2 emissions has to start somewhere. California is a better place than plenty of others to start. It's not the whole package, but a start. Since the rest of the world wants to emulate Baywatch and Dallas, well let's give them something better to emulate, and eventually they'll come along.

China's CO2 is spiking now, but ours started 100 years ago, which is about how long it persists. It'll take some time and some doing to put the toothpaste back in the tube. But that's not a reason to throw the tube on the floor and step on it.

 Reply