environmental sustainability in Nelson New Zealand

Current news and views concerning sustainable and green tourism in New Zealand. The environmentally friendly sustainable tourism charter is investigating interest amongst local tourism businesses for ongoing ecotourism development.

On Tuesday (May 27) Qualmark officially launched its Responsible Tourism criteria, dubbed Qualmark Green, at TRENZ in Rotorua. There is a website dedicated to this initiative, click here to have a look. These criteria will become embedded within the existing Qualmark assessment process from August this year, rather than an optional 'add-on'.

If you are already a Qualmark member, you should recieve an email explaining how you can access a range of information on the above website using a personal login. There are several minimum requirements associated with Qualmark Green, as well as three tiers of achievement for those willing and able to do more regarding sustainability.

At first glance there seem to be quite strong correlations between the Sustainable Tourism Charter process and the process involved in meeting Qualmark's Responsible Tourism criteria. This is great news for current Charter members as previous thinking, action, investment and achievements around sustainability will make aiming for the highest marks that much more realistic. This launch apparently also represents a world first, whereby a tourism quality standard is integrated with a sustainable performance standard under the same brand.

In case you hadn't heard, it's World Environment Day on 5 June. New Zealand is the official host for the day this year and the slogan is "Kick the carbon habit" and aims to raise awareness of carbon emissions and climate change issues.

Here in Nelson, there are various things happening that are worthy of support. The key message coming from the Nelson City Council is "less cars = less carbon". A pretty simple equation really!

Information on activities and events happening on and around June 5 can be found on the Nelson City Council website. There are some great opportunities to get involved in what's going on in the local community.

Belated congratulations are due for Pacific Discovery, a Nelson-based Charter member! They were chosen as one of the "best adventure travel companies on earth" by National Geographic magazine. This is an inspiring effort from a relatively small organisation operating out of Nelson. Well done Scott and Rachel!

Click here to have a look at the Pacific Discovery website. If you are interested in finding out more about the National Geographic award, then click here.

After all the predictions and debate, the price for Unleaded 91 petrol has reached the $2 mark. For me at least, this really is a psychological line that, now crossed, is really making people think about fuel efficiency as well as broader global issues.

This article posted on the Stuff news website indicates the likely shift in New Zealand attitudes towards driving and public transport. Interestingly, this article was published before petrol actually reached $2 per litre in most New Zealand service stations.

In what may well be a world first, Rangiora residents Karen and Karl Upston have launched a business which offers composting services for nappies and similar products. Envirocomp initially plans to compost 2.5 tonnes of disposable nappies per day, which would otherwise have gone to landfill.

It will be interesting to see how successful this business becomes in the next year or so. Regardless, it is definitely another example of kiwi ingenuity! For further information, check out the Envirocomp website.

Another new, local company with big plans for a potentially carbon-constrained world in the future is the Bio Gas Company. Their strategy is to begin growing, harvesting and processing hemp in New Zealand to produce a wide range of products. The initial plan is to focus upon production of bio fuel using a pilot plant scheduled to be completed in late 2008.

This company appears to have done a lot of research and planning, so it could well be worth 'watching this space' in the near future. For details on their plans, products and information on hemp generally see their website.

If you, like me, cannot stand to use or even see plastic bags, then have a look at the websites below for some good background information and resources to help avoid them!

Zerowaste NZ provides some interesting facts regarding plastic bags, including what other countries are doing to reduce production and/or use.

Plastic Bag Free Golden Bay is the organisation which engineered Collingwood's status as New Zealand's first plastic bag free town. They also have facts, figures and news on the issue from New Zealand and around the world.

Reuseable Bags.com stocks a range of product alternatives to plastic bags. They offer items made from a range of renewable sources such as bamboo and hemp.

Finally, here is an interesting news story from China. The Chinese government is planning to ban the manufacture and charge for the distribution of thin plastic bags within its borders. Amazingly, up to three billion plastic bags are used in China EVERY DAY!

For those of you interested in carbon offsetting, this story makes for good reading. It provides another example of how interlinked global processes are, especially when one looks at the whole system, rather than just the small or local scale.

I had certainly never thought of linking natural disasters with supplies of carbon offsets. This may be something worthy of serious consideration within the carbon trading/off-setting debate.

Closer to home, a Nelson-based company offering advice, tools and offsetting programmes associated with carbon emissions was started at the end of last year. Offset The Rest only works with projects involving renewable energy solutions and has been ranked in the Top 30 carbon offset providers worldwide.

The Offset The Rest website makes for informative reading even if you are just keen to learn more about carbon emissions and offsetting. To find out more about their Top 30 ranking, have a look at this news story.

Here is an interesting tidbit on the Starbucks chain. This news story highlights some of the sustainability goals laid out by the company in its latest corporate responsibility report.

This is perhaps a clear sign that sustainability and environmental responsibility issues are well and truly reaching the mainstream.

Not to be out-done by Starbucks it seems that IT companies are also taking positive steps to reduce the ecological footprint of their products.

Both Hewlett Packard and Dell have recently announced plans to move towards sustainability by planning for future initiatives such as; using recycled materials during product manufacture; reducing energy usage of products and incorporating sustainable sourcing into their printing paper.

If you find yourself with about 6 spare minutes, have a look at this video. This shows 12 year old Severn Cullis-Suzuki (David Suzuki's daughter - see Book Review below) laying down the law to delegates at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

Despite the fact that this speech was delivered over 15 years ago her words seem no less emotive today. This is a healthy reminder - just in case you need it! - of where our priorities should always lie; our future generations.

To find out about what Severn has achieved over the years, have a look at The Great Warming website.

This is a comprehensive, but accessible book detailing how the current path of human evolution may in fact spell the end of humanity - or at least humanity as we know it - on this planet. Topics such as human history, insecticide and pesticide use, industrial agriculture and biotechnology are weaved into a compelling call to environmental and social action.

As well as providing a bleak account of past human foibles the book does not end on a sour note! Suzuki and Dressel explain that we are at a turning point where the opoprtunity still exists to correct our current course away from disaster.

"The traveller that resolutely follows a rough and winding path will sooner reach the end of his journey than he that is always changing his direction, and wastes the hour of daylight in looking for smoother ground and shorter passages"