A warm start to the winter season has left the Great Lakes virtually ice-free and with their lowest ice cover to kick off a new year in at least 50 years.
On New Year’s Day, only 0.35% of the Great Lakes were covered in ice, the lowest on record for the date, and well below the historical average of nearly 10% for this point in winter, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL).
This year’s missing ice in the Great Lakes adds to a growing trend of winter ailments plaguing the US, from dwindling snowpacks in the West to an ongoing snow drought in the Northeast, all becoming more common due to warming temperatures from the climate crisis.
I don’t think I’m being clear. I understand for some people it’s not viable. I am absolutely 100% with you that they should extend public transportation. I’m lucky to have it now, although having it available was a major factor when choosing where to settle down. I have no idea about your situation and am not judging you. I can see how it comes off that way.
I’m just pointing to what the top level poster said: most people would use it if it were available. And I disagree as my experience screams the opposite. Driving has to be inconvenient or stupidly expensive for people to really start making the shift.
The other poster just kept implying that there really is no reasonable public transportation anywhere. In the past (dear god I’m old) almost 30 years, I’ve only lived in a non-walkable, public-transportation free place for 3 years. I know this to be untrue, and I also know it to be untrue that people will all of a sudden give up unnecessarily driving places because they have public transportation. I’ve seen people make the choice countless times to unnecessarily drive.