Are we really “clean and green”?

I believe that New Zealand is really clean and green and are doing well to maintain this image. Unlike other countries, New Zealand has made a lot of effort in conserving their greenery by controlling urbanisation from disturbing nature. New Zealand has barred the entrance of any nuclear armed or powered ships as it is a nuclear free zone. Furthermore New Zealand has also developed a “zero waste policy.” However there is the fact that New Zealand is responsible for having the second highest rate of car ownership, yet the government is putting a reasonable amount of money and time towards the reduction of this rate so that the rate of emitted carbon could be effectively reduced to allow New Zealand’s image of being clean and green to be retained.

I believe that New Zealand is a clean and green country because a lot of New Zealand’s landscape is effectively being preserved so that urbanisation is controlled in particular areas unlike other countries who have failed to do so. New Zealand is very green with its many national parks and reserves where human intervention is banned so that New Zealand’s valued wildlife such as the kiwi and parks such as the Tongariro district could be preserved for current as well as future descendants to enjoy. Agriculture is one of New Zealand’s highest sources of income from overseas whereby the export of New Zealand’s dairy products is playing a significant role in the country’s economy. Furthermore New Zealand’s image is also enabling people from overseas to trust and favour New Zealand’s dairy products. Due to New Zealand’s clean and green image, a large number of tourists have been attracted to New Zealand to admire the country’s clean and green feeling. Hence, internationally it is clear that New Zealand has been condemned to have been a really clean and green country and it is important that this image is maintained.

New Zealand is a nuclear free zone, whereby the entrance of nuclear armed or powered ships to the country’s waters or ports is prohibited. New Zealand has also put a bar towards the dumping of radioactive waste within the nuclear free zone, which clearly shows how concerned the nation is in maintaining their clean and green image. Nowadays there a more developments that are being made towards the country where the population is constantly encouraged to save power, in fact most New Zealanders prefer to use solar or wind energy as a power source as opposed to nuclear energy, which from my perspective is a real good thing as it reflects on the support that is put towards the country of keeping New Zealand clean and environmental friendly.

New Zealand has introduced a zero waste policy that has encouraged the society to reuse as many items such as paper, plastic, glass etc to allow a reduction in the amount of waste and landfills and instead allow as may resources to be reused in one way or another even if only a part of it is used so that the environment is kept clean and green. In fact this tactic of the zero waste policy has allowed an advantage to the country financially whereby a business doesn’t need to produce and mould as much as “milk bottles” as before, because this environmental friendly scheme allows a “milk bottle” to simply be treated so that it could be used as a milk bottle again for the consumers to use, so that the amount of landfills could be reduced in order to maintain the greenery, wildlife as well as the clean feeling of New Zealand.

However, there is the fact that New Zealand has the second highest rate of car ownership in the world, which means that New Zealand would have a higher amount of carbon monoxide emitted from the car fumes, which if it is not controlled may not only have an impact on the population but also on the environment. Although there are a lot of improvements that are currently being made to reduce the number of cars on the country’s roads with the bar on the amount of cars older than 2000 entering New Zealand, which means that the lower the number of old cars the lower the rate of production of dangerous fumes. Furthermore the government is putting a lot of money and time in the development of public transportation so that the nation is encouraged to take up these cheaper facilities or even more environmental friendly options such as walking or bussing as opposed to cars that cost more with the petrol prices gradually increasing. Clearly despite the high rate of car ownership in New Zealand the development of such facilities and awareness of the impact of the fumes is allowing an improvement to the state of New Zealand with the image of being clean and green preserved and valued.

Therefore it is clear that New Zealand are doing fairly well in maintaining their image of being clean and green whereby a lot of effort is being put in conserving the countries greenery by controlling urbanisation from interfering with the environment. New Zealand has also made a good decision in developing its nuclear free zone. Furthermore the zero waste policy has enabled the amount of landfills to reduce. However there is the fact that New Zealand has the second highest rate of car ownership although this has been effectively dealt with as the society is gaining more awareness or the damage the car fumes are doing to the country and are being provided with improved and developing public transport so that the amount of carbon emitted could be reduced leaving New Zealand to sustain clean and green.