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I’ve been prompted to write this article after reading an interpretation by domain.com.au in their blog, of my impressions of the Sydney Earth hour, where they raised the very valid point that whilst Sydney’s Earth Hour did raise awareness about wasteful light-leaving-on, there is another problem within Australian society which is equally, if not more, damaging to the environment – the Australian fascination with giant vehicles…

So, while the organisers of Earth Hour are busy congratulating themselves, and all the Sydneysiders who joined in – they report a 10.2% drop in energy usage in the CBD (though, without meaning to sound cynical, I’m not sure what they were comparing against, and I’m sure a Saturday night in the Central BUSINESS District would experience lower than average energy consumption on ANY Saturday night…) attention is focused on turning off unused lights, which accounts for – anecdotally (i.e. in my opinion) – not a lot of energy consumption and wastage nationwide.

But I’m here to talk about vehicles, so that’s just what I’ll do… in a minute. Before then, I’ll mention something which I’m sure will raise hackles and cause a shower of contrary opinions: I was once told by an electrical engineer type that fluorescent strip lighting (such as those favoured in offices in the Sydney CBD) actually uses more energy turning on than in being left on for periods of HOURS. So, if one were to turn off such lighting when it was not needed, and turn it back on within, say, two hours, more energy would have been used than if the light had been left on. Just something I though I’d share, but I am by no means confident about the accuracy of this statement.

Anyway, back to the car stuff…

I think I have mentioned before that, during our travels around Australia, coming, as we have, from the UK, we have been told of two dreams that (almost) every Australian has close to their heart from an early age. These are:

• Dream Number 1 – to travel around all of Australia, or, “do the 1′er” – a reference to the route 1 road which can be used right around the circumference of this vast continent. Doing this in a camper van seems to be the mode of choice.
• Dream Number 2 – to own a V8.

We’ll concentrate on dream number 2. That’s right, every Australian – at least every Australian male – wants to own a V8 motor vehicle. If it has an engine of at least 5.0 litre injection, so much the better (though most V8s here seem to).

That is an extremely large engine to propel one man around to the shops, to work, to get his newspaper, or, which seems also to be a regular pass-time amongst Australian males between the age of 17 and 25 (and often much older) just to spin the wheels around in the suburbs. At night.

The idea that this car culture is a little over the top can also be gleaned when watching the television news. Every day there is a feature on the price of petrol. Every day. This idea would seem ludicrous to anyone from Britain, I’m sure. OK, there is the odd story when fuel tax goes up each year in the budget, but here it is every single day. They report the average price, as well as where the cheapest and most expensive price at which fuel could be bought. Tell me that this country isn’t obsessed by vehicles at least to some degree after considering this point.

And it’s not as if the petrol here is that expensive either. When I left the UK, petrol was around GBP£1 per litre – that is AUS$2.40 or thereabouts. People here went berserk when the price reached a dollar a litre (some time ago – about 40p) and even more “nutso” last week when the price hit AUS$1.35 (between 50-60p per litre – by my maths). UK petrol hasn’t been that cheap since, oh, 1995. But then that is perhaps why most British people don’t drive around in cars with engines big enough to power a small battleship. They can’t afford to.

So, is putting up the price of petrol even more going to stop this unnecessarily flamboyant burning of fossil fuels in motor vehicles. Very unlikely. There’s two reasons I say this:

1. To raise the taxation on fuel would be political suicide, as no politician in the country would dare suggest that Australians should pay MORE for fuel. They’d probably be voted in immediately as prime minister for suggesting a reduction in fuel prices.
2. No matter how much petrol costs, Australians LOVE their big cars. It’s entrenched. Car culture, and V8 addiction, is unshakable.

Is there an answer to this problem? I honestly don’t know. I certainly can’t imagine a way to tell any Australian man to get a smaller car without him looking at me as if I just suggested he have penis reduction surgery.

As an aside, I find this obsession with powerful cars most strange for two reasons. The first is that there are traffic lights EVERYWHERE in Australian towns and cities (which is where the vast amount of the population lives) – why do they need power to go the 200 yards to the next red light? The second is that everyone does the speed limit on the freeway – which is never more than 110 KPH, which you can achieve in a 1.0 Toyota Yaris (or Echo they call it here). I know, because I’ve done it. What do they need all that power for? Is it just like a badge to say “I’m more of a man than you are”? Probably.

You’ll note that I’m constantly referring to men. There are Australian women who also drive cars with huge engines, however, they seem fewer and further between. The fact remains, though, that it is inconceivable to me in a world where people can get by without having large cars, which do few miles (or kilometers) to the gallon, that such oppulent disregard is so widespread amongst a society and so clearly embedded in a whole nation’s psyche.

When the climatic chickens come home to roost, and all countries are forced to reduce their carbon (and other) emissions, someone eventually will have the huge job of convincing Aussies to downsize their vehicles. And I’m glad it isn’t me.