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Limit Flying

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Flying is the area that causes me the most dilemmas in trying to achieve zero emissions. I know that flying causes the most greenhouse gas emissions per km travelled . Flying also causes problems when the emissions are released in the higher altitudes.  One way to achieve zero emissions on long distance travel is to not fly at all. However, this is difficult in a country as big as Australia which has a poor rail network. I currently travel outside of Canberra for holidays, visiting family, walking trips and attending music festivals or events. My current goal is to limit the amount of flying I do and explore alternatives to flying. If both my partner and I are travelling together within Australia, we normally use the electric car. This has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions, compared to using trains or flying. Greenhouse gas emissions will arise from using recharging stations that are powered by electricity generated from fossil fuels. Most recharging stations have a goal of being...
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Plastic Waste

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Clean Up Australia  has just released their 2022 National Rubbish Report. It reports that plastics account for 63% of the rubbish items removed from our parks, schools, bushland, creeks, beaches and roadways, indicating a 17% increase from 2021. Soft plastics rose by 7%, hard plastics by 5% and polystyrene by 5% compared to 2021, with single-use plastics such as plastic bottles, takeaway containers, food packaging and lids making up 25% of all reported rubbish. The Clean Up Australia Report is a snapshot of the rubbish items volunteers have removed across 1,075 surveyed locations in Australia during 2022. Breaking down by location, 46% of all reported rubbish found nationally was in waterways including beaches, rivers and dive sites, followed by parks (14%) and bushland (13%). Plastic litter dominated all locations, with most found in school grounds (79%), bushland (74%) and parks (60%). The report highlights the problems with our current approach to recycling. We need to do much m...
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Buying an electric car

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After considering electric cars for several years, I decided to get serious about it in 2021. In 2021, my partner and I shared a car – a 10 year old Toyota Camry Hybrid. We considered two options for purchasing an electric car: Buying an electric car that would travel at least 400 kms between charges so that the new car could replace the Toyota Camry. The starting price for such an electric car was over $60,000. We looked closely at the Tesla model 3 and the Hyundai Kona. Buying an electric car for driving around Canberra and keeping the Toyota Camry primarily for long trips. The starting price for a new electric car was $46,000 (MG ZS EV) and there were some second hand options. We decided that option 1 was preferred as it meant we continued to just have the one car which we shared. I researched charging stations and decided it was feasible that an electric car which could travel at least 400 kms would meet our long distance travel needs. We then test drove the Tesla model 3 and Hyund...
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