Teleworking’s Hidden Environmental Impacts

Want more links to read? Visit The Overhead Wire and signup. Every day at The Overhead Wire we sort through over 1,500 news items about cities and share the best ones with our email list. At the end of the week, we take some of the most popular stories and share them with Urban Milwaukee readers. They are national (or international) links, sometimes entertaining and sometimes absurd, but hopefully useful.

Corporate headquarters abandoned America’s suburbs: Big empty office sites in suburbs around US that were once-trendy campuses have been abandoned over time for metropolitan centers to in order for businesses to attract young employees. Who and how should these “big empties” be redeveloped and is it even possible? (David Bernstein | Pro Publica)

Teleworking’s hidden effects on the environment: Amid the virus spread and lockdowns, teleworking has increasingly become a popular option adopted by various companies and individuals. At first glance it may appear that this will benefit the environment with reduced VMT and falling emissions, the reality is mixed as energy use is decreasing but longer and non-work trips are increasing. (Eric Sunquist | SSTI)

Office work will never be the same: COVID-19 has not only changed where office workers work, but also how they work for the foreseeable future. While only a small percentage of office workers are predicted to actually go back to thier offices, technology will become increasingly important along with a distorted day of longer hours and more meetings. (Rani Molla | Recode)

CAHSR decides to reduce costs by hiring state employees over consultants: The California High Speed Rail Authority plans to cut private-sector consultants in a bid to reduce costs and bring more expertise in house. 88 consultant jobs will disappear and 70 employees will be hired for a $16m a year net savings. (Andrew Sheeler | Sacramento Bee)

The Collapse of rush hour: In these times of lockdowns and preference for telecommuting, traffic demand has completely changed. Specifically, demand at previous peak commuter hours has plummeted which could be positive news for a future of less rush hour only service and better efficiency and equity. (Jarrett Walker | Human Transit)

Quote of the Week

Deaths from accidents are the biggest source of organs for transplant, accounting for 33% of donations, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, UNOS, which manages the nation’s organ transplant system. But since the coronavirus forced Californians indoors, accidents have declined. Traffic collisions and fatalities in the state dropped by half in the first three weeks of sheltering in place.

–April Dembosky in Kaiser Health News discussing the reduction in organ transplants due to Coronavirus lockdowns.

This week on the podcast, we’re joined by Boris Lipkin, the Northern California Regional Director of the California High Speed Rail Authority.

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