It’s a tricky concept – living in such a way that minimises one’s impact on the planet, whilst still being able to live a sane and relatively “normal” life. We own a car (an efficient Diesel auto), but I take public transport to work nearly ever day. I support road tolls as a way of discouraging driving in the city. As much as is practical, we buy locally-produced, organic fruit and vegetables. Recycling is okay, but not buying stuff in the first place is better.

Speaking as a geek, I think it’s an extension of the concept of extensibility or perhaps scalability, both talking about planning that takes into account what happens next, in an holistic manner.

Generally, Australia (and Melbn in particular) isn’t so good at this kind of planning. Perhaps it’s a geography thing: there’s nothing stopping Melbn from sprawling endlessly in nearly every direction (much like Los Angeles). I think Vancouver’s planning is better, simply because it can only really sprawl in one direction; the other three are blocked by mountains, water and the USA. Planning for the future in some kind of sensible way is a necessity.

The poor, unsustainable planning in my adopted home of Melbourne really bothers me. One can drive 90 minutes in nearly any direction from the CBD and still be in suburbia – more during the evening rush. New estates are being built huge distances away from where people work, and no new trains are being built to connect them to the city. The existing train network isn’t being used as efficiently as it can be. Very little money has been spent on infrastructure in the past 20 years – while at the same time, we’ve spent $500 million on a new ticketing system that no one wants and is a year overdue, and still has problems. Architecture is just starting to experiment with “greener” buildings, but nothing in the mainstream is going far enough. There’s discussion about a new freeway tunnel under the north bit of the city, which will encourage even more people to get in their cars.

Urban sprawl is not sustainable. Cars are not sustainable (both due to the congestion they create and fuel they consume). Melbourne’s urban planning (or lack thereof), which features a lot of both of these things, is definitely not sustainable.

Blah blah blah. Yeah, I’ve gone on too long about this. This entry was really supposed to just be a link to a single article in The Age about the lack of planning in Melbourne. Please read it – the author is far more coherent than I am, gentle reader.

I don’t often quote huge tracts of text, but this is brilliant writing:

9. You
Charges: You believe in freedom of speech, until someone says something that offends you. You suddenly give a damn about border integrity, because the automated voice system at your pharmacy asked you to press 9 for Spanish. You cling to every scrap of bullshit you can find to support your ludicrous belief system, and reject all empirical evidence to the contrary. You know the difference between patriotism and nationalism—it’s nationalism when foreigners do it. You hate anyone who seems smarter than you. You care more about zygotes than actual people. You love to blame people for their misfortunes, even if it means screwing yourself over. You still think Republicans favor limited government. Your knowledge of politics and government are dwarfed by your concern for Britney Spears’ children. You think buying Chinese goods stimulates our economy. You think you’re going to get universal health care. You tolerate the phrase “enhanced interrogation techniques.” You think the government is actually trying to improve education. You think watching CNN makes you smarter. You think two parties is enough. You can’t spell. You think $9 trillion in debt is manageable. You believe in an afterlife for the sole reason that you don’t want to die. You think lowering taxes raises revenue. You think the economy’s doing well. You’re an idiot.
Exhibit A: You couldn’t get enough Anna Nicole Smith coverage.
Sentence: A gradual decline into abject poverty as you continue to vote against your own self-interest. Death by an easily treated disorder that your health insurance doesn’t cover. You deserve it, chump.

From The BEAST 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2007

I don’t think I can say anything else here.

It’s Hammertime!

This one was a sleeper. One of those songs I remember kinda liking, and then forgetting about. It came up randomly on my iPod coming home from work today, and I’m wondering why I didn’t give it more stars in iTunes, or at least remember it. It’s so brilliant and catchy. Why did I discard it so lightly last time around?

I’m making up for lost time now – so far five back-to-back listenings.

The song is called Protons, Neutrons, Electrons by The Cat Empire. Here’s the chorus, the lyrics can be had, too.

Protons, Neutrons, Electrons
That rest on a Sunday
Work on a Monday and someday soon
We’ll be singing the old tunes
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, Zip-a-dee-doo
I’ll be sitting on the porch with you
Then I’ll die and I’ll fly off into the blue

Have a listen at iTunes. Then buy it. Play it a billion times. Thank me later.

The train in from the city was late. These things happen – and the driver was going faster, trying to make up time. As we left one station, the driver went on the PA and said something like this:

Good afternoon, passengers. I’d like to apologise for the fact that we’re running a bit late. The train that was supposed to make up this service was defective – the driver got a severe electric shock from the accelerator, so they had to take the train out of service. And to the gentlemen who was gesturing emphatically at his wristwatch as we pulled into the last station, it’s fourteen minutes after four PM. Hope that clears it up for you, sir.

Now for the karma part. Just after that announcement, I looked out the window and saw a family – parents, grandparents, and two little kids – smiling and waving at the train as we went by.