It’s a 40 degree Celsius afternoon in suburban Melbourne,
a young engineering graduate named Sarah, plans her first holiday season as
host to all her family. She is seated in the
dining room, looking flustered next to an open window, her apartment’s air
conditioner humming in the background. Without notice, her favourite 0.1mm
mechanical pencil snaps under the load of her panicked scribbling, she cries
out “How, how, how can I make this holiday season sustainable, I just don’t
have the time or knowledge!”.
From outside, a
booming voice shouts back “Never fear! Sustainability Person is here!” Our
hero, Sustainability Person (SP) appears outside Sarah’s window poised in mid
air. SP looks heroic in a green organic cotton body suit and
cape with a brown ‘SP’ boldly printed across the chest. “How may I help you
today young lady?” inquires SP, as the hero floats through the window and stands next to
her. “Oh Sustainability Person, I can’t believe you’re really here”, our hero
reaches over and takes the notepad containing Sarah’s panicked scribbling from
her hands. Her list is as follows:
- How can I ensure my
family’s travel to my house, is as sustainable
as possible?
- What can I do to make my house more energy efficient?
SP congratulates Sarah for taking the first step to
think about our impact. Our hero then goes on to say “Do you know Sarah that
transport is currently responsible for approximately 23% of world energy related
GHG emissions”. Sarah’s eyebrows lift “really?” She goes on to tell SP that
some of her family lives interstate and will be flying down for the holidays.
SP follows by saying that aeroplanes are the most carbon intensive transport, with carbon emissions
per passenger per kilometre many times larger than other mass passenger
transportation modes. “However if you’re family has to fly, then why not
consider purchasing offsets for the trip”. SP shows Sarah that Australian
domestic airlines now offer the ability to neutralise your personal
greenhouse gas emissions at a small extra cost when booking. “Now while
somebody doesn’t follow the plane with a sack to catch your share of emissions” SP says with a
chuckle, “you can feel comfortable in the fact that you’re small extra fee is
going to government certified initiatives aimed at reducing energy consumption
and greenhouse gas emission”. Sarah sighs in relief, “thank you SP, but what
about my home?”
SP reaches for his utility belt and detaches his ‘triple bottom line laser’ and points it at the wall on the opposite side of the room. The laser projects a webpage, to which SP remarks “A great place to find energy saving ideas is at the Victorian Governments save energy website” (http://www.saveenergy.vic.gov.au/). Sarah smiles and nods her head in appreciation and then with a flick of our hero’s wrist, SP’s laser displays another webpage, “Also Sarah, if you’re looking for a way to manage your holiday event’s impact on the environment, you may wish to try the sustainable events calculator, developed by Origin in conjunction with EPA Victoria and Melbourne City Council” (http://www.originenergy.com.au/2837/The-sustainable-event)
Sarah reads from the webpage, that the sustainable events calculator will help you to estimate the greenhouse gas emissions associated with your event and provide you with solutions to help reduce those emissions. Suddenly SPs ‘climate change sense’ tingles and SP moves towards the window “This has been a pleasure Sarah, but I must go help others now”. SP levitates slowly through Sarah’s window and turns to fly away, “thank you, thank you sustainability person” Sarah calls out. Our hero turns again to face Sarah “Oh and don’t forget the Sustainable Living Festival will be showing at Federation Square, from the 19-21 of February 2010, with local events also running from 6-21 of February” (http://festival.slf.org.au/)
With Sarah waving goodbye, SP flies off
into the sunset, as a heroic musical piece plays softly in the background.
Hayden Bed
(Sustainability
Representative YEA-V 09)
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