CLEAN and GREEN NEW ZEALAND?

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â™¥ Mysterious â™¥

no it is clean and green - south island is better though

cernunnicnos

It is clean and green. There is some giardia in the rivers, but once you get up into the mountains it's safe to drink the water. We have little in the way of heavy industry, farming still being the backbone of the economy.
There are some pockets that are toxic though as we've really only been clean and green since the 1970s when there were big protests to protect the remaining virgin forests. From that we've adopted a cleaner approach to things. We manufactured agent orange for the Americans for instance, and some other, now considered to be hazardous, chemicals were used in large quantities in farming. A lot of rural areas had a high cancer rate as a result of the chemicals the farmers were using and the lack of protective clothing when applying them. Parts of the country are not suited for habitation because of chemical wastes that were dumped in the past. There were problems a few years ago when a new subdivision was found to have been built on top of an abestos dumping ground.
For tourists coming to see the country though, the air is relatively fresh even in Auckland and most of the mountainous areas are pristine. Something like 40% of the country is covered in forest too.

nicksname

Both yes and no. If you mean literally, then yes. There is alot of natural bush and forests around, and I think there is more protected land than there is occupied land (not sure about this but recall something similar). There are literally hundreds of nature walks, possibly thousands (which is alot for a small nation). In fact right now i'm in btween the ranges, beaches and the harbour (yes we spell it with a "u").

The air is clean and the most polluted it gets is in Auckland (and it isn't noticable at all, unless you stick your head in an exhaust pipe) and is nothing compared to the most of the world. On the other hand, NZ generally creates more greenhouse gases than it can turn back into other useful gases, so we are not greehouse-neutral or whatever its called. The ozone above us and Australia is more depleted than the rest of the world, as the wind blows CFC gases to us from other parts of the world.

But generally, yes we are clean and green. One of my sisters friends came over from Australia and took pictures of just grass, just because it was green!

P.S
There's a marketing campaign for NZ. I didn't even know the rest of the world knew we existed!

romulis1

hi I'm from a small rural town there is heaps of clean and green here the people are friendly and easy going some say to easy, but we have plenty of unique places to see beaches galore no one in this country is more than 2 hours away from the sea/ocean so that gives you an idea of the size of the country.well there`s heaps to do here and plenty of people to help you do it so welcome one and all and hope you enjoy my beautiful country soon

sweneysteve

Actually NZ is only green for the tourist brocures. NZ still uses certain chemicals that have been banned elsewhere for years. They still allow untreated raw sewage to discharge to the sea and beaches are closed routinely because of that.

WinoJunko

I don't know if it is a marketing campaign but if it is then its working. I would really like to go there someday.

ELM

It is quite clean and green but this is becasue of a smaller population.
It is true that as we grow bigger some areas of N.Z are being ruined....the worst of it comes from Foreign people buying up our land and putting mansions on it and not letting the locals tramp/hike over it like we used to.(but that is another issue).

It is partly a marketing campaign you are right but we are cleaner and greener than a lot of countries. We need to make sure as new Zealanders that we keep it this way for as long as possible!

Driver T

Hiya,
GREEN is a word that has been hijacked by a political movement in NZ, and they are using it for many nefarious purposes, like: charging farmers rent for crown land according to the view the sheep have while eating grass; selling coal to China to burn in uncontrolled factories but banning its use here because even with all the antipollutant measures, coal is "dirty" (and we wouldn't want the world to get polluted --well at least not by New Zealanders); banning the chastising of children (but complaining that the jails are full because of bad parenting); allowing the Department of Conservation to exterminate selected rare species, because they don't see it as their responsibility to preserve them (Enderby Island cows and Arapawa Island sheep etc): and so on.

In general, Kiwis care for their backyard and try to look after it for the betterment of future generations. Some couldn't give a stuff, and a high proportion of new New Zealanders unfortunately fall into this category.
The beaches of Auckland are being stripped of all shellfish by Asians (mainly Chinese) who have never encountered such delicacies on there doorstep before, and there children now, never will either. Paua (abilone) poaching is being done mainly by Maori people, but being done for the Asian black market. Again a source is rapidly being depleted.
I think that most kiwis are along there with the Dutch, Germans and Scandinavians when it comes to caring for the planet.
Backpackers from overseas are the WORST. They care not where they piddle or pooh, and Kiwis accept that every single river or stream in the country is now polluted by an organism called giardia, one that is only transmitted to humans by drinking water someone has peed in.
The advertising campaign you refer to is probably that done by NZ Tourist and Publicity Department called NZ Pure.

I hope I've clarified the situation for you.
Driver T

mareeclara

a lot of marketing ,but there are still a few areas that are clean and green......at least we are involved in the Kyoto Treaty unlike other countries and are trying to help in some aspects.....

vivi

Most Kiwis are aware we live in a small country and more likely to be polluted more quickly and easily ... well hopefully the Politicas understand that.

Most households try to do their best, I'm sure. Clean and Green? UMMMMMMMMMM.

All I know is that the country that is possibly one of the most polluted the the world is where I can breathe ... why do I live here? Because I can't live and work there ... yet!

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