Sustainability: The sweatiest culture shock

“So, is Sydney different than the United States?”

One week in, I’ve been asked this question more than a dozen times. My answer to each inquirer is an immediate “yes.” The harder, more complicated follow-up question I then have to answer is, “How is it different?”

Some of the distinctions are easy to identify right away. (They drive on the left side of the road!) Some are subtler. (The supermarket closes at 6? Weird.)

Before we left, our group was told that Sydney would be “greener” than the United States. Since I’ll be interning with an Australian non-profit that promotes solar power, this assertion piqued my interest. Even though I wasn’t entirely sure what kind of environmentally conscious differences Australia had in store, I was excited to find out.

I think the whole group would agree that it didn’t take us long to find out. In fact, it was probably a bigger—and sweatier—culture shock than any of us imagined.

So here’s my answer to just one facet of that tricky follow up: a quick list of the ways that Sydney, Australia has proven to be “greener” than Knoxville, Tennessee.

1)    Limited air conditioning

When we arrived at our Wattle Street Urbanest in 95°F (about 37C) heat and with the sun beating down on us through that infamous Australian hole in the ozone, we all expected the sweet, sweet relief of the AC systems we’re accustomed to in the US. We walked in the doors to find…

It was still approximately 95 degrees.

Air conditioning, when available in Australia, is used with conservation as a forethought. In our own apartments, that means it won’t run wastefully when we aren’t there (when our key cards aren’t in the door), and nor will the lights. When we are around, it runs only every other hour, except between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., when they take pity on us and keep it constant.

2)    Funny looking outlets

Australian outlets are different than those in the United States. Not only do they feature angled prongs and higher voltage, they also operate using an on or off switch. To get the energy to flow, you must take the added step of flipping that switch after plugging in your appliance. According to various, questionable internet sources, these serve the dual function of adding a safety measure and a way to save electricity.

3)    Funny looking toilets

Perhaps my dad was the only one who jokingly told me to check if the toilet water spun backwards in Australia, but a quick google search found he wasn’t the only person with that question.

While I probably never would have noticed how the water spun, I couldn’t help but observe these strange flushing contraptions.

The buttons control how much water is used in each flush depending on how much is *ahem* needed.

The left uses more water, and the right uses left. These exist elsewhere, but seem to be universal in Sydney.

1)    Clean streets

If littering is looked down upon in the United States, it must be completely unacceptable here. I have never seen streets this clean in any other city in the world. It’s very clear that people are deliberate with the waste. There are a huge number of public trash cans and quite frequently, very full recycling containers that look like this:

4)    Public Transport

Thanks to an Opal card system that makes trains, buses and ferries widely accessible, public transportation is the norm here. Granted, this is true of many large cities worldwide, but for someone coming from a region that largely lacks good public transport, it’s definitely a culture shock.

These differences range in how much they jumped out in the cultural landscape. The air-conditioning was like the left-sided driving: the clean streets more closely mimicking the shorter business hours.  

I would argue that there is an underlying theme across all of them. That theme is a cultural awareness regarding the environment that Americans tend to lack, even if it's as simple as flipping an extra switch, or paying attention to which button you press on the toilet.

I fear prematurely attributing this awareness to one factor. There are many reasons, from the high cost of energy here, to a deep rooted-dedication to preserving resources that dates back to the traditional aboriginal owners of the land, to a highly active population who seems to enjoy the natural world, that might be used to say just why Australians are so willing to alter their behavior for the environment.

In the meantime, I'll try to figure out a comprehensive explanation, and I'll keep sweating.