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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/02/why-are-australians-in-denial-about-how-cold-our-homes-really-are-winter-stoicism-is-partly-to-blame>
"Australians often fall victim to national mythologies. Whether it’s indulging
stereotypes of Aussie machismo by telling tourists our one huntsman story,
declaring we’re a very successful multicultural country during a time of racial
tension, or being so confident that our winters are “mild” that we pretend
they’re not happening. It’s not that bad, we tell ourselves. It’s Melbourne,
not Quebec. I’ll wear an oodie.
These aren’t just thoughts I’ve had during one of my many Melbourne winters
spent wheeling my oil heater around a freezing terrace house. Researchers
report that because we consider Australia a warm country, we play down how cold
it can get, even going as far as ignoring winter altogether. It’s an attitude
particular to Australia and New Zealand that researchers refer to as “winter
stoicism”.
How did we get here? For years we’ve heard that Australian houses are so poorly
insulated and energy inefficient that they’re essentially glorified tents, so
why are we pretending that everything’s fine? As it turns out, the stories that
we tell ourselves can be very powerful.
Because isn’t Australia, as one British guy once told me, all about drinking
mango smoothies on the beach? That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. And
it’s probably why researchers found that people living in Wollongong were
indifferent to how cold the city could get, saying that Wollongong was
ultimately “about summer”. It’s attitudes like this that have led to our homes
being built without proper regard to winter temperatures.
None of this is about blaming ourselves for how we’ve adapted to living in
houses that are empirically too cold for human beings to safely inhabit. I’ve
been known to work from home with a hot-water bottle on my lap, the kettle on a
rolling boil and, at times, wearing a huge dressing gown over my many layers of
clothes, just to stay warm. We do what we’ve got to do.
But what if we changed the narrative? What if we decided that Australia isn’t
just a summer country, but a country with a range of seasons that – depending
on where you live – include cold ones? What if we accepted that winter is a
season with its own distinct charms and rituals that can be embraced, rather
than something to be wished away or ignored because it doesn’t fit into the
mythology of an eternally warm Australia?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
