Incentives to use MORE finite natural resources
"When the pipeline from Mundaring Weir was opened (1903), a garden competition was inaugurated (1904) as an incentive for residents to use more water. The Palms, tended by Tom Cunningham, won the competition for section A (for gardens that employed a gardener)."
from The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens, page 461.
The Palms was a residence in Kalgoorlie owned by Sidney Hocking the part owner of the local newspaper, The Kalgoorlie Miner, which no doubt promoted the competition.
Imagine the outcry in this day if a similar competition were conducted by a public utility and promoted by the media to use more of a finite natural resource.
It is happening, seemingly with no concern. In Perth for a number of years the power authority, Western Power, aided by the promotion of a variety of media outlets have been encouraging the display of bigger and more wasteful Christmas light displays. Prizes, either cash or free power supply have been the incentive to use even more power.
A further irony is that following Christmas there has been a Western Power campaign to encourage people to save power. And furthermore, we are being told that the authority is stretched to cope with the power demands of the city.
Really, until such time as our power source comes from renewable resources is there any sense in promoting the wasteful consumption of any finite supply?
kombi69 Seriously Crusin Dubber
193 posts · joined Jul 2003 ·
