Carbon Planet goes to Summernats
Matt and Dave at Carbon Planet’s Summernats stand
Cars, big loud cars, are an Australian cultural tradition. Every year some 150,000 people, car lovers all, descend upon the nation’s capital, Canberra, for a week of high-octane engines, burning tyres, white smoke and wet t-shirt competitions. V-8 cars compete for attention with spoiler-laden trucks, drag races and all manner of fossil-fuelled funtimes. The event is called Summernats and Carbon Planet is here, preaching to the entirely unconverted.
The Carbon Planet stand is tucked away in the north-east corner of the Bridgestone Pavillion so come and say ‘hi’. Unlike the stands around us we don’t have a car on blocks and girls in hot-pants like the Enhanced Ethanol people do, or even inflatable dolls wearing ‘fat pizza‘ t-shirts, but we do have a whole host of information about cars and climate change. (Note to self - next year get some cars on blocks and girls in hot-pants, people here seem much more interested in talking to them, especially the cars!).
I’ll be honest, being here is something of an experiment for both us and the Summernats people. When Summernats approached us last year we were initially surprised. And judging by the looks I get from people passing by our stand we are not the only ones. But Summernats were serious. They reasoned, quite rightly, that if they put their not inconsiderable weight behind a push towards greater environmental awareness then this could inspire millions of people we’d otherwise never reach.
We are offering a discount on car offsets for people who buy direct from our Summernats stand so if you are here in Canberra this weekend come and say hi. I’ll have more to say on this (and maybe more photos) as the weekend rolls on. — DS
Technorati Tags: Australia, carbon credits, Carbon Planet, cars, climate change, climate optimism, education, emissions reduction, energy efficiency, ethanol, global warming, Summernats
