It is a bit of a dreary, winter Friday. Since my coffee has not yet kicked in, I will simply plagiarize this excellent paragraph from Alan Durning of the Sightline Institute.

Meanwhile, other transportation innovations that we’ve long promoted, including freeing up taxi licensing and real-time ride-matching (aka, high-tech hitch-hiking), are under assault from the taxi and town car businesses and their captive regulators. We expected this might be coming, but it’s infuriating. And a hotel-industry-driving crackdown on for-profit couchsurfing is also mounting, as we guessed might happen. Outdated rules enforced by cartel-like politics are a big barrier to affordable, green solutions.

The last line says it all. Free trade among people looking to do more with fewer resources holds great opportunity for environmental benefit.

Back to my coffee.