Getting a surf, fossil free.
Disclosure statement. I am retired, surf, and derive no funding from anyone except super and the Department of Social Security. Once I surfed on the dole. Now l surf on the pension. I am of the Morning of the Earth generation when surfing was a natural lifestyle strongly connected with the green alternative movement. Now I think I am of the Morning for the Earth generation.
Been thinking and looking into what my next vehicle should be when my current one dies.
Have always been a van man, love the practicality, sleep in the back on surf trips, set it up for cooking and board storage, four roof racks on the roof for carrying timber for building, saved a fortune on delivery costs over the past 3 decades, tow bar for trailer to get firewood for the open fireplace, which also heats up water, the local sawmill sells cut firewood for $50 a load, 2 loads each winter, bargain.
Been checking out fully electric vans verses hybrid and was blown away how expensive both types are, both up around the $100 grand mark.
The 2 nearest charging stations are 20 minutes and 25 minutes away, I live on a farm, one good thing both are next to the local swimming pools and I like doing lap swimming, good for my back.
If these type of vans were equal in price to a new petrol van ($60k) I would go the hybrid but $100k is way too expensive.
Toyota Corolla. Look after them and they go 1mil km.
internal dialogue...
reads 'pandemic' associated with climate change... dialogue goes...
'oh fuck, here we go...'
continues reading 'overshoot' mentioned and explained... internal rage subsides... and goes 'ok well done...'
(but still think it's a stretch dragging pandemic into it - that's a very different beast...)
anyway good for you, on your realisation and little endeavour
but I must say, without intending to pick on and irritate pp, I find it both interesting and amazing that people are considering electric vehicles and the like, whilst running an open fireplace... love an open fireplace... but my understanding is this will more than cancel out any goodness one tries to undertake re. electric vehicle and the like...
which is possibly also the case with the manufacture and materials in the electric vehicle
until the vehicles etc. are manufactured with renewable energy and more sustainable materials... we're all just pissing in the wind with feel good solutions...
that's not to say don't do it - any transition is going to be long and hard - but I do believe we're all just caught up in a vortex of feel good green washing...
^^^ what island bay said - modest proven solutions
I remember well over a decade ago, climate zealot, tim flannery arguing it would be more beneficial- ie. less damaging - to squeeze more life out of your gas guzzling HQ, than constantly upgrade to new shorter lived supposedly more efficient disposable buzz boxes...
unless they're a quality, well maintained, toyota corolla
which brings us back to OP's point...
'overshoot'
resources...
consumption!
https://globalenergymonitor.org/projects/global-coal-plant-tracker/
and interactive map, you can toggle to see where the planned ones are going to be. Not necessarily the fully capitalist places.
https://globalenergymonitor.org/projects/global-coal-plant-tracker/tracker/
It's possible we are headed for an ice age termination event - only we already had that, with the Younger Dryas about 12-10,000 years ago. What does a further termination event on top of an interglacial look like?
Sypkan said.
but I must say, without intending to pick on and irritate pp, I find it both interesting and amazing that people are considering electric vehicles and the like, whilst running an open fireplace... love an open fireplace... but my understanding is this will more than cancel out any goodness one tries to undertake re. electric vehicle and the like...
Read what I said, the open fire place which I built in the shape of a tree, has a hot water pipe built into it which thermosyphons into a tank to heat water for showering, it therefore serves 2 purposes, I am not on mains power so the only other option for heating water is gas instantaneous, which I have as back up, I have also built a solar hot water system, but the water does not get hot enough during the 3 low northern sun winter months, the solar hot water tank is a repurposed old electric hot water tank I got for free from the tip, the second hand solar hot water panel cost me $50 and has been working trouble free on the roof for 25 years.
About a decade ago I changed over from a gas fridge (3 gas bottles a year) to a 12volt DC electric chest fridge, it cost about 2 grand and has more than paid for itself and has never missed a beat.
My lifestyle has nothing to do with feel good greenwashing, it's all about practical do it yourself
problem solving based on the bank of knowledge I have at the time.
If I could go back 35 years in time and do the whole owner builder trip again I would do it completely differently, but here's the thing I now have all this experiential knowledge gained from doing it, now I can see what I did right and what I did wrong, mud brick houses have too many access routes for termites to get in and chew on tasty yummy floor boards and pine roof lining.
Another van option is the secondhand Toyota Hiace import, there is a car dealer out at Casino who ships them over from Japan, apparently it cost 5 grand to ship, but the trade off is most of them have very low kilometers.
Hey Philo
https://www.drive.com.au/news/toyota-hiace-plug-in-hybrid-coming-in-2023...
could be worth investigating?
Cheers Johno will keep an eye out for them. A two litre petrol engine paired with an electric motor is a good size for a van.
good work pp, you're all over it
as I said, my intention wasn't to pick on you individually, it was more a general comment, aimed at inner city / outer city types, who love their tesla's (or once did, before...) and love their open fire places as well...
I also love an open fire place, but...
I just find it interesting that certain 'solutions' are chosen, pushed, and accepted, when we have total blind spots elsewhere
like banning gas stoves in victoria... but don't dare touch that holy grail of hipness, the open fire place...
anyway, as I tried to convey, better we all try where we can, even if that's just growing awareness about what can be done, which you are...
the japanese car thingy is another interesting one, the encouraged turnover of cars there is a double edged sword, I would argue largely originally based around reducing inner city pollution rather than the new kid in town - climate change...
with new awareness and new knowledge, it would seem a little wasteful from a consumption perspective...
maybe it's ok, turning over vehicles when they're manufactured with nuclear power?
another can of worms
seems a bit dumpy offloading them on us though...
bit like us exporting rubbish to china... but not as bad... as us...
just seems the better we get, the worse we get
philosurphizingkerching wrote:Sypkan said.
but I must say, without intending to pick on and irritate pp, I find it both interesting and amazing that people are considering electric vehicles and the like, whilst running an open fireplace... love an open fireplace... but my understanding is this will more than cancel out any goodness one tries to undertake re. electric vehicle and the like...Read what I said, the open fire place which I built in the shape of a tree, has a hot water pipe built into it which thermosyphons into a tank to heat water for showering, it therefore serves 2 purposes, I am not on mains power so the only other option for heating water is gas instantaneous, which I have as back up, I have also built a solar hot water system, but the water does not get hot enough during the 3 low northern sun winter months, the solar hot water tank is a repurposed old electric hot water tank I got for free from the tip, the second hand solar hot water panel cost me $50 and has been working trouble free on the roof for 25 years.
About a decade ago I changed over from a gas fridge (3 gas bottles a year) to a 12volt DC electric chest fridge, it cost about 2 grand and has more than paid for itself and has never missed a beat.My lifestyle has nothing to do with feel good greenwashing, it's all about practical do it yourself
problem solving based on the bank of knowledge I have at the time.
If I could go back 35 years in time and do the whole owner builder trip again I would do it completely differently, but here's the thing I now have all this experiential knowledge gained from doing it, now I can see what I did right and what I did wrong, mud brick houses have too many access routes for termites to get in and chew on tasty yummy floor boards and pine roof lining.
Another van option is the secondhand Toyota Hiace import, there is a car dealer out at Casino who ships them over from Japan, apparently it cost 5 grand to ship, but the trade off is most of them have very low kilometers.
https://www.choice.com.au/transport/cars/used/articles/odometer-tamperin...
From the Choice article.
While many second-hand car importers will do the right thing, he believes that at worst, 70–80% of cars coming into Australia from Japan may have had their mileage wound back.
Wow I never thought the percentage was that high.
My 1997 import hiace with a digital odometer is 3rd hand, it had 80,000 ks when I bought it about ten years ago,
it was in immaculate condition and I haven't had any major issues with it so I might have got lucky. it was definitely not a tradie van.
The vehicle emissions thing they have in Japan, where they get exported after doing 50,000 ks is like Sypcan said a strange thing, but I have heard, lots of the hiace supercustoms with the seats in the back got exported to Jamaica where people set up thriving Taxi businesses.
One thing I learnt recently is don't buy genuine Toyota parts, I needed a new A/C compressor and the Toyota spare parts guy quoted me $2,100 and he actually said to me to go for an aftermarket part which cost me $740
almost a third cheaper, I couldn't believe it.
philosurphizingkerching wrote:Sypkan said.
but I must say, without intending to pick on and irritate pp, I find it both interesting and amazing that people are considering electric vehicles and the like, whilst running an open fireplace... love an open fireplace... but my understanding is this will more than cancel out any goodness one tries to undertake re. electric vehicle and the like...Read what I said, the open fire place which I built in the shape of a tree, has a hot water pipe built into it which thermosyphons into a tank to heat water for showering, it therefore serves 2 purposes, I am not on mains power so the only other option for heating water is gas instantaneous, which I have as back up, I have also built a solar hot water system, but the water does not get hot enough during the 3 low northern sun winter months, the solar hot water tank is a repurposed old electric hot water tank I got for free from the tip, the second hand solar hot water panel cost me $50 and has been working trouble free on the roof for 25 years.
About a decade ago I changed over from a gas fridge (3 gas bottles a year) to a 12volt DC electric chest fridge, it cost about 2 grand and has more than paid for itself and has never missed a beat.My lifestyle has nothing to do with feel good greenwashing, it's all about practical do it yourself
problem solving based on the bank of knowledge I have at the time.
If I could go back 35 years in time and do the whole owner builder trip again I would do it completely differently, but here's the thing I now have all this experiential knowledge gained from doing it, now I can see what I did right and what I did wrong, mud brick houses have too many access routes for termites to get in and chew on tasty yummy floor boards and pine roof lining.
Another van option is the secondhand Toyota Hiace import, there is a car dealer out at Casino who ships them over from Japan, apparently it cost 5 grand to ship, but the trade off is most of them have very low kilometers.
Wood fire's are carbon neutral if the timber burnt is regrown, so if people really wanted a timber fire they could some how ensure they contribute to ensure trees are replanted/regrown.
BTW. I wonder if there is a business/organizations's already where if you are all green friendly and want to have a timber fire you pay the organization based on what you burn a year $$$ and that money is spent on reforestation project's etc.
I have been surfing since 1973. My nearest year round surfing spots are 1.5 hours south and I get winter surf locally. A wave pool is being planned 1.5 hours north of me.
I used to surf every few days when I was younger but haven’t done that for 40 years.
The world is heading to 2.7 degrees warming by year 2100. The reason for most of the world’s extinction, climate, pandemic, and global income inequality disasters are due to overshoot. Overshoot is caused by ambitious growth and development thru extractive capitalism. Overshoot is a biological concept where a species thrives and uses more resources than is balanced and sustainable for it’s habitat. The population rapidly reaches a peak, degrades it’s environment and then its population suffers a rapid collapse as the resources can’t sustain the demand. Climate change is a result of overshoot. Population, resource demand and degradation thru the waste stream of rapid industrialisation and wealth accumulation cause climate change. Until overshoot is addressed the situation is going to continue to worsen. We have reached a point where collapse is inevitable.
Too few people are changing their lifestyle to match the level of turnaround the planet requires.
Is the surfing industry part of the problem? I think I have reached a point where I will make my current equipment the last I will buy, and I will limit travel to my local surf break. Everyone needs to decide what their own ” Leasure”goals should entail. After all surfing is a leisure pursuit and industrial based enjoyment of and connection/participation with the natural world. There are less industrial connection options with nature.
Have us watermen and women overshot.