• protist@mander.xyz
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    15 days ago

    Finland is a very different place than California. If you don’t have your wits about you outdoors in Finland for at least 3 months of the year, you will die. The weather, in a way, forces solutions on people. Finland is more comparable to Minnesota in terms of weather, population, and size, and the issue of homelessness in Minnesota pales in comparison to California.

    Finland also has universal healthcare, and it’s hard to overstate how impactful easy access to competent mental health and substance use treatment is.

    In California, you can wear shorts all year, and mental health and substance use treatment are difficult to access and largely administered by for-profit companies providing awful care.

    • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      I get that.

      That’s why I say there are no perfect solutions. We can only ever get most of the way there, which is what California and the US should shoot for.

    • zabadoh@ani.social
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      15 days ago

      In California, you can wear shorts all year.

      What alternative universe California are you from? In this one where I live, anywhere except the Southern Cal coast, it’s too cold in fall and winter because valley and desert weather are extreme.

      • protist@mander.xyz
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        14 days ago

        Clearly I’m exaggerating about wearing shorts all the time, but also I’m talking about where all the people live. It rarely if ever goes below freezing across almost the entire state, save the mountains and the deserts, where people don’t live.