It Is Easy Being Green

By Pearl Bullivant on December 21, 2017 in News

Barnaby and Scott with their only Christmas present, by Nathan Tinkler

Pearl loves Christmas. Just like the wombat in Mem Fox’s story Wombat Divine, Pearl loves the cards, the candles, the presents, and the pudding. But, most of all, I love the Christmas lights – so pretty. But they use electricity, and electricity is an emotional issue for Australians.
My friend Derek’s biggest gripe in life is the price of electricity. Fuelled by a morning of right-wing radio shock jocks, Derek will moan about the exorbitant cost of switching on a light, roasting a chook, and running his electric razor. And, when I can get a word in to quiz him on the actual cost of his electricity bill, I discover the daylight larceny he is bleating about is a shocking $3 per day – the price of a lottery ticket.
Electricity prices have become an obsession, not only for Derek, but for the conservative media, politicians, and mining companies looking to exploit a scarce resource and the public’s FOMO for electoral and financial gain. Six months ago, a bait-biting Malcolm Turnbull was spinning the broken record that “electricity prices will be higher under the ALP,” while a manic Barnaby Joyce tossed around a large piece of coal in the front benches as if it was a gold nugget, and Craig Kelly claimed that people would die if renewables were favoured over coal. Apart from this circus being terribly unoriginal – like “jobs and growth” – and used to deflect the Centrelink data matching scandal, it’s also utter crap. Any scarcity that is driving up prices is due to our power resources (in the hands of private operators, of course) being sold very cheaply overseas. I find it strange that I never hear anyone complaining about the cost of their iPhone plan, their Foxtel connection, the lease on their fancy 4WD, or the cost of their botox addiction. But I do hear a lot of bleating over electricity, which is an essential in life.
So, this Christmas, when you are stringing the festive lights up, turning on the air conditioner, and popping the clothes in the dryer, let’s face some home truths and stop being a wuss: electricity is a scarce resource, so let’s treat it like one, use it sparingly, and make Earth Hour a daily practice by adopting a retro lifestyle that will be sure to impress the hipsters. Use a clothesline, install an old-fashioned ceiling fan, or feel the sea breeze. And, in winter, don’t restrict those ridiculous puffer jackets to the outdoors. Businesses can also do their part by discarding the stuffy suit and tie for men in summer, turning down the air conditioning, and switching off the lights at night.
And, to our piss-weak State Governments: have some balls and stand up to property developers; make clotheslines mandatory in all apartment complexes, ban the ugly housing developments where every tree is erased for maximum profits, and enforce a sustainable building code.
It should be pretty straightforward and easy to implement, but are we prepared to make simple sacrifices? Or would we prefer to allow fracking to destroy our food bowl and water supply for the sake of “life’s good at 21 degrees”?