Someone has emailed a list I subscribe to with an interesting point: that if the economy were more localised, with more people working closer to home as in the past, we wouldn't have seen such a widespread shutdown of workplaces and schools because the hazards and the effort of getting to class or to office would be less.Here's that email:
"Most of the problems caused by even mild snow falls, such as we have just had, come from the move away from local economies that has occurred in the last 40 years. Sorry to sound like an old fart, but when I were a lad nearly everyone in my town walked or biked a mile or two to work, or did if their car was out of action, and did it whatever the weather."
Is this a rose-tinted view of the past or a genuine example of how we have become less resilient to sudden shocks? What do you think?
