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#11
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less cars : roll on $2 per litre
Friday wrote: When I was a kid if I wanted to go somewhere I had to walk or ride my bike. Choir, debating and theatre didn't exist back then, never did me any harm. Nor did gears on bikes when my dad cycled. Do you ride a single speed with coaster brake because of that argument? Come to think of it, my recent forebears struggled to afford chaff for their horse. |
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#12
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less cars : roll on $2 per litre
Bleve wrote: When it hits $10 a litre, what will you do? Seriously, this problem is not going to go away. The world *will* change. That's obvious enough. Wishing for it to happen is still mean and nasty. Like many people we are economising to afford what is important, and some of the changes will get less and less fun. Donga |
#13
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less cars : roll on $2 per litre
Stuart Lamble wrote:
Theo Bekkers wrote: Did you hear Howard mention that there are currently damn-all taxes on LPG (other than GST) and that these taxes will be ramped up until in 2012 they will be the same as those on Petrol? No? Maybe he forgot he passed those changes last year? Cite? This would be a classic example of spin in action ... http://www.aph.gov.au/Library/Pubs/R...-04/04rn44.htm They appear to now be proposing an excise tax of only 12.5 c per litre, but that leaves them with an energy excise shortfall of 13.4c on LPG. Coming soon to a servo near you. :-) Theo |
#14
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less cars : roll on $2 per litre
Bleve Wrote: When it hits $10 a litre, what will you do? Seriously, this problem is not going to go away. The world *will* change. The worrying part is, even if we only ride bikes, we are not immune from this in any way. Imagine postage/freight costs, air fairs, FOOD. Damn it, I like my food! -- gplama |
#15
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less cars : roll on $2 per litre
Donga Wrote: Bleve wrote: When it hits $10 a litre, what will you do? Seriously, this problem is not going to go away. The world *will* change. That's obvious enough. Wishing for it to happen is still mean and nasty. Like many people we are economising to afford what is important, and some of the changes will get less and less fun. Donga My hope is that the kids' sports will become better organised... currently the travel involved in getting kids to games is ridiculous, sometimes driving for twice the time the game actually takes It's not a good use of resources, and means instead of the youngsters having, say, 3 hours of possible activity, they spend 2 hours sitting in a car. Bring back local leagues!!! ali -- alison_b |
#16
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less cars : roll on $2 per litre
Donga wrote: Bleve wrote: When it hits $10 a litre, what will you do? Seriously, this problem is not going to go away. The world *will* change. That's obvious enough. Wishing for it to happen is still mean and nasty. Like many people we are economising to afford what is important, and some of the changes will get less and less fun. That depends on your point of view. When petrol costs so much that people have to *seriously* look at alternative means of transport, that can have a positive effect as well as negative. Cars *are* unsustainable, car culture is *deadly* How many die each year in cars? more Australians have died in car crashes than in all the wars we've ever been involved in etc etc. If we get a little smart about transport, and anticipate the consequences of the (all too foreseable, alas ... but people *are* stupid) choices made re where we live, how we get to places we want to go, where we send our kids to school etc, then it's actually not so bad. The kids can ride their bikes to wherever they want to go, unless it's stupidly far away, in which case, the consequences of unsustainable choices are going to smack the people that have made those choices, and they have no-one to blame but themselves. |
#17
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less cars : roll on $2 per litre
gplama Wrote: The worrying part is, even if we only ride bikes, we are not immune from this in any way. Imagine postage/freight costs, air fairs, FOOD. Damn it, I like my food! Freight? Logistics? Unless there is a immediate shift to returning Australia's freight requirements back to rolling stock, we could be potentially in for a very rude shock regarding food prices. So why don't food producers grow stuff closer to the population centers?? Well they could of once, before the brick and tile wonderlands took over the market gardens & orchards in the post-war suburb sprawl. Not now, the McMansions have stuffed that option. -- cfsmtb |
#18
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less cars : roll on $2 per litre
Theo Bekkers wrote:
Stuart Lamble wrote: Theo Bekkers wrote: Did you hear Howard mention that there are currently damn-all taxes on LPG (other than GST) and that these taxes will be ramped up until in 2012 they will be the same as those on Petrol? No? Maybe he forgot he passed those changes last year? Cite? This would be a classic example of spin in action ... http://www.aph.gov.au/Library/Pubs/R...-04/04rn44.htm They appear to now be proposing an excise tax of only 12.5 c per litre, but that leaves them with an energy excise shortfall of 13.4c on LPG. Coming soon to a servo near you. :-) Which is more than compensated for by the 4.3c/L 'surplus' on petrol given the likely usage ratios. The nerd/mechanic/inventor/tinkerer in me still thinks that a HPV/electric hybrid is the go. Battery charged by a wind turbine (I live near the coast), or a solar farm in my tornado ravaged back yard. -- BrettS |
#19
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less cars : roll on $2 per litre
alison_b Wrote: My hope is that the kids' sports will become better organised... currently the travel involved in getting kids to games is ridiculous, sometimes driving for twice the time the game actually takes It's not a good use of resources, and means instead of the youngsters having, say, 3 hours of possible activity, they spend 2 hours sitting in a car. Bring back local leagues!!! aliYes, i have noticed that a lot of amateur sporting organizations either have, or are considering geographic proximity when allocating teams to divisions. A lot of junior competitions are run like this already and have been for a long time. It makes sense, and you can still have your cup type events or carnivals for sports like soccer, basketball and netball. These changes will hit us all, which is why it is annoying that politicians (predictably) take the easy route, because most of them wont be around when the sh*t hits the fan. Changes could be made now that would start addressing the problem realistically but they won't happen while people still think this is solely a problem of the greed of oil companies and governments rather than a physical reality only exacerbated by those factors. Pretty much par for the course in a country that has never been notable for people adapting to the reality of its physical environment, witness housing design, land use based upon European rainfall patterns and soil and the numerous attempts at transplanting inappropriate foreign species into Australian ecologies. -- deejbah |
#20
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less cars : roll on $2 per litre
Bleve wrote: If we get a little smart about transport, and anticipate the consequences of the (all too foreseable, alas ... but people *are* stupid) choices made re where we live, how we get to places we want to go, where we send our kids to school etc, then it's actually not so bad. The kids can ride their bikes to wherever they want to go, unless it's stupidly far away, in which case, the consequences of unsustainable choices are going to smack the people that have made those choices, and they have no-one to blame but themselves. Unfortunately houses within cooee of the kids' school start at $1 million for a dump. I live 12 minutes drive away on a good run. I can ride it in 18 and do when it's just me and I don't need to be 'dressed'. It's not a safe ride for my kids, nor could they do it practically with the varying hours and the gear they need. Sure there are choices in all this. I could use the local high and primary schools, for demonstrably worse educational outcomes. We could decide not do all the other activities. The extra benefits my kids get are part of the richness of life in Brisbane/Australia in 2006, for those who can afford it. That means driving. Talking about blaming myself is silly. Should I choose to forego what is on offer for my kids? Heck, I'd better move to the country and live in a humpy while I'm at it. Donga |
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