In a country that is all but the American whipping boy, it is no surprise that we find ourselves lagging behind. Alternate energy sources and use of water are all but non-existent except in a niche market. Australian’s seem to be impassive when it comes to global warming; sure, it’s bad and all, but don’t make me change my life to fix it.

It doesn’t help when the government is described as a “follower”, as Richard Potter from Solar Charge suggests in a seminar at the Save Water Save Energy expo.

This year is also an election year, with the Prime Minister John Howard only recently announcing the election for mid November. For much of the year there has already been a lot of noise concerning global warming and climate change, but not much action. It was the issue that everyone had to have a view on.

The Green Party has managed to build up a larger profile this year as a result of these issues. The two major parties, Liberal and Labor, are lucky to receive a 10% rating from the Big Switch; an initiative to alert the layman voter to what the parties are doing for the environment.

But the turn out at the expo is at least something to ease the mind. It’s a Friday, before the CBD goes on its lunch break, and it’s hard to not bump in to someone. People seem to want to make a change, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that many are over the age of 50. You could imagine many of them being grandparents wanting to make a change for their children and grandchildren, or simply wanting to make a difference.

I spoke to a representative from the Wilderness Society who was here to represent the move towards recycled paper. Though not sure about where we are in a global ranking in terms of deforestation, he did have figures for me for my home state of Victoria and my brothers state of Tasmania.

“I don’t know what the percentage is, but I do know what figures are. In Victoria I think we log something like over 15,000 hectares of native forest every year. And in Tasmania, I think it is something 3 times that. So you’re looking at around about 45,000 hectares of native forest being logged every year in Tasmania.”

If you’ve read my stuff here at GO, then you’ll be well aware of the fact that I’m not necessarily the sunniest person when it comes to our environmental future. I live in a country that is in so many ways like the US in terms of political lackluster. We live and die off the political movement of a government that seems not to care about our environment. So much so that the living aspect of that is looking more and more unlikely every year that goes by.

Those who have turned up today, and will continue to arrive over the weekend, are definitely looking for something to do to make their lives a little greener. They want to find alternatives for their hot water, electricity usage and their use of water.

Do I think that anyone here is going to be able to make the big change that we need? No. My pessimism simply doesn’t allow for it. And while I’m well aware of the joy that we find in being able to do “our small part”, I think big, and I want to make big change. So I’m hard to please. Let me make one thing clear though. I see myself making change across the world through science, advocacy and being a loudspeaker for the race against global warming. I want to see people making these movements at home.

Save Water Save Energy Expo