My action for the ActNow Incubator (ActNow’s youth advisory board) came about through a chance piece of work I was given.
Set to write a motoring piece on green cars, I had to research and formulate an approach to interest and convince readers of Perth Vita Magazine, a women’s lifestyle publication produced and distributed in WA, that green motoring is not just important, but entirely possible.
Though car manufacturers recognised the need for more environmentally-friendly vehicles over 30 years ago, there wasn’t the technology available to develop and achieve those original goals. And even though the first hybrid vehicle, the Toyota Prius, was on the market overseas over a decade ago, it’s only now that fuel prices have hit all-time highs in Australia (it was recently reported in an online survey that fuel prices are hurting the average family more than interest rates and increasing food costs) and possibly that we’re experiencing unusual weather changes that people are becoming increasingly concerned with carbon emissions.
It probably doesn’t hurt that mainstream musicians such as Missy Higgins, Powderfinger and Silverchair are holding ‘green’ tours either, reaching the younger demographic and setting examples. After all, if artists like that have the time to care, we all should.
The biggest part of green motoring is, funnily enough, not related to the government.
I realise lots of people are opposed to the way the country is run, and therefore are writing letters etc to councils and parties, but in this case, the government appear to be all behind green ‘becoming the new black’, emerging with a ‘Green Car Innovation Fund’ from 2011, which is expected to generate $2 billion worth of investment for the manufacture of low emission vehicles in Australia.
Between the government and the motoring industry, the self-regulation is working well.
The only problem is, resources such as the Hydrogen Fuel Cell and totally fuel less cars are still quite a while away, realistically, and it’s now fallen to the general public to accept the issue and see ways around using their cars.
We don’t have a street-side lifestyle in Australia, but plenty of places make the use of public transport and our own kind of transport—the good old two feet—work as much as possible.
Though there are questions over whether or not obesity is an ‘epidemic’ as such, there is definitely a growing problem there and walking to work or school would be a much healthier option for all involved. Even reading a good book or the newspaper on the train is probably better for the soul than a morning, and then evening, stuck in traffic.
It’s the attitude towards the excessive use of cars that is the issue here, not the coming-about of green motoring.
In my office everyone (bar me) drives to work, even though most live in the local area, When I say I catch the train for convenience purposes (as I said, I personally would much rather spend time on the train with a novel than time in the car with a traffic jam) everyone looks at me like I’m mad. But it’s the people that are driving distances they could walk, or driving when the train station is across the road that should be getting the glances.
There’s an attitude adjustment that needs to be made; the motoring industry and the government are all for it, it’s the people that are lagging this time, which is why I feel the need to bring it up in my blog.
I am waiting to see my article printed, but I am interested to see the kinds of responses it receives. I shall be back then to continue on with my action!
