permaculture

[Russ Grayson <pacedge@magna.com.au>]

On Sunday, June 8, 2003, at 04:55  PM, treaclemine@intranet.org wrote:
> Should committed permaculturists be giving up
> private fossil fuel burning cars as quickly as possible, and moving to
> sustainable forms of transport (including community vehicles running
> on alternative fuels)? 

First, alternative fuels. A friend has been running his Land Rover on biodiesel. Unfortunately, the recent federal budget has introduced tax to make biodiesel the same price as petrol. There goes any incentive to change. 

Perhaps in UK cities it may be possible to live without a private vehicle as it would for people living in Sydney's CBD or inner-urban belt. But many areas are poorly serviced by public transport, especially those on the Sydney rural/urban fringe. So, while public transport usage should be encouraged, it is not always practical. Especially where people require a vehicle for their work.

In Sydney, people can travel for hours to get to and from work. My partner, for instance, works in local government in Manly and has to commute from Monterey. That's on the other side of the city, on Botany Bay, and the transit takes between 1.5 to 2 hours each way, daily, by public transport, which she uses. The same journey is only an hour, sometimes a little more, by car along the expressway and through the harbour tunnel even during peak driving times. You can see the time saving possible through private transport and understand, especially when people have families, why private transport is preferred.

A person I know lives at Kiama, a south coast town over 120 km from Sydney, but commutes to Sydney three days a week. He was fortunate negotiate that his travel time - he takes the express train - counts as work time as he can do work on his laptop while in transit. Not all similarly-distant commuters are so fortunate.

Sure, people might say that my partner - and others like her - should get a job closer to home (this is what one permaculturist told her). But that response demonstrates an ignorance of the dynamics of urban geography - the zonation of the city, the location of certain types of jobs in particular locations, the difficulty of being able to transfer to some other type of work after a certain age. Jobs are not evenly spread over the metropolitan area, if they were then the suggestion might have some validity. And moving closer to where she works? Evan a modest apartment in Manly sells for AU$350 000. A house with land - put aside a minimum AU$800 000, better still a million. Interestingly, a workmate of my partner recently bought a small attached house in Manly for AU$900 000 and thought the price not exceptional. So moving house is not such an option unless you are wealthy. 

> How important are communal sustainable car
> washing facilities in comparison to these reductions in fossil fuel
> burning?
Clearly less important, but in the prevailing circumstances they would be a good interim move. Reducing fossil fuel use is a long-term economic and political question. People have to earn a livelihood in the meantime, they have to work and commute, and this might involve the use of a private vehicle.

Individuals can be expected to adopt public transport only to a limited extent where it is time-consuming to use. People in this city are time-poor enough already. The use of public transport will rise when governments adopt relevant policies and expenditure - it is at basics a political issue (and, contrary to Bill's assertion, is one more reason why permaculturists should be involved in politics), as Sydney's public transport lobby has learned to its benefit (it is now on the political agenda).

> For the record, I'm personally car-free, and working hard to wean
> my partner away from private car use (currently in house move hell to
> get within cycling distance of my partners work as well as mine).

I guess UK cities are more like the European model, more compact and more densely populated than Australian cities.

..........................................................................................................
Russ Grayson
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