When I first arrived in NZ I was pretty impressed with all of the low flush toilets, the amount of local food available and the tiny, but functional hotel room we stayed in in Auckland. NZ is also really great about recycling - well, it's available, but like here in Canada, at no time did I talk to someone who actually know how much stuff is really being recycled or how much ends up in a landfill. However, it's available in many forms throughout the islands. I have to say that I was a bit surprised at how much logging goes on in NZ. I don't know why I didn't expect that. This picture shows logging along the Marlborough Sounds area of NZ and it's supposed to be one of the world's scenic ferry rides. It looks pretty similar to all the stuff we get here in B.C. Clearcuts are visible a lot of the time.
What did concern me is the lack of wildlife on the islands. Pretty much everything is an imported species. And the scary thing is those species have been very successful. Now that has posed a huge problem and poison to kill weasels, stoats and possum is pretty common. There was a fair bit of trapping going on as well, but poison seemed to be abundantly used. The use of herbicide to keep down roadside growth is also pretty widely used. I'd say that is less "green" than cutting it down, but I don't know the costs. NZ is doing a lot of things in the right way to make itself ecologically friendly. I hope someone can find a way to get rid of some of the invasive species without having to resort to poisons. It's too beautiful a place to become more contaminated on a very polluted Earth.
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