I has a cold. >: /sniffles

[criminalize]

Excuse my idiocy from thinking that the building was shaking from a strong blast of wind when I woke up last night. Melbourne has strong winds but they're not that strong.

It was an earthquake.

:\ It wasn't severe or anything, no one was hurt, but... this, just a month after the bush fires? What the hell is going on in this state? I hope it won'

Comments

[vilajunkie]

Weather in Aussie, just like the animals, is crazy. It's not called the Sunburnt Country for nothing! As for helping the environment, I believe a lot of people care or try to care, but it's so hard to change lifestyles to save the environment when we might not even see the beneficial effects in our lifetimes. We want everything to be NOW NOW NOW. Well...guess what? The problem is NOW!

[criminalize]

It's actually not that bad depending on where you are. I just so happen to be in the state with possibly the worst weather ever. =__= New South Wales and Queensland doesn't have weather that's this severe, I think; and Tasmania had tons of water last year while Victoria was having a drought.

I don't know anything about economics but I don't see why people aren't doing more to make the hybrid cars cheaper. I mean, if they're really going to help THAT much, then why are they only affordable to the upper-class? Can't the government subsidize or... do something... to help make the hybrids more affordable/tempting to potential car buyers? Surely paying to stop the environment from getting worse is cheaper than paying to rebuild homes, rehouse people, etc. etc.

[vilajunkie]

Somewhere I heard that hybrid cars and electric cars have been around for decades (before we were born even) but some kind of deal between the government and the auto industry has kept them under wraps and now hard to afford. Did you know that American auto emission and fuel economy standards are lower than those in Europe, and even in HK? That means American-made cars, or cars made for the American public by foreign auto companies, are bigger gas-guzzlers and more harmful to the environment than they are in countries where cars are smaller and gas is more expensive. The $4.50 gas price scared a lot of people into rethinking their driving expenses and driving times, but now that it's back down to just under $2 people have stopped caring so much. The whole system is messed up.

[tomatoshoes]

It's 'cause the hybrid cars are made by Japan and none of the politicians in big polluters like Australia or the US want to subsidise their foreign competition because then their local carmakers won't vote for them, and their local carmakers are influential because they provide lots of blue-collar jobs and no government wants a bad economy to lead to proletarian revolt (I think car companies may also get national security subsidies because they make the parts for tanks etc too). And none of their own companies are interested in hybrids because petrol isn't taxed enough to make it super expensive (politically impractical to raise taxes, also, you'd screw over a lot of rural people who have no other means of transport which is a bad thing), and because it's never been worth their time because no-one really wanted one and they didn't want to pay scientists to invent one if no-one was going to buy it