Water writer John Fleck explains how the proposed Nestle bottling plant in Phoenix is a “bicycle shed” problem, or: “How We Distract Ourselves from Complex Critical Problems By Attacking What We Think We Know About.”
The articles for this issue started to come together in the midst of the global pandemic, as our usual practices were upended, our concerns reprioritized, our social lives reorganized and often curtailed, our lives—both private and public—in a tumult. Even now, as we’ve moved past the initial phases of crisis and more of us have moved back into shared workspaces and participated in social gatherings, many uncertainties remain. As I read the early drafts of these thoughtful articles, I found them pulling me into a space for reflection…