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New Zealand Considers Innovative Plan to Address Sustainablity of Tourism

New Zealand understands the importance of the environment is to its tourism industry and is working towards taking steps to protect it.  The conclusion is, more clean, more green and 150% pure is the only way for New Zealand to remain a viable tourist destination, but the cost may be too big for some tourism outfits.

Today's Dominion Post reports the Draft New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2015 has touted a sustainability-heavy focus as the only way to shrug off the cost of the carbon miles it takes to get tourists to New Zealand.

Tourism Industry Association chief executive Fiona Luhrs and Tourism Minister Damien O'Connor launched the industry's second long- term strategy at Te Papa yesterday.

Pitching forecasts at one million more visitors a year by 2015, and doubling their total holiday spend to $12 billion, the strategy quoted kaitiakitanga -- guardianship and sustainable management -- as a core principle.

Ms Luhrs said tough environmental requirements could have casualties as tourism operators were asked to invest in eco-friendly operations. Small to medium-sized businesses, particularly those with fleets of vehicles such as campervans or tour buses, would have to think about whether they could upgrade and remain competitive.

"It will sort out the men from the boys; it's going to be quite a telling period. People are going to have to decide whether they are seriously in tourism or not."

Mr O'Connor said New Zealand had to go further than its "100% Pure" message as tourists started to count the carbon miles they clocked up on holiday.

"The level of expectation around 100% Pure is now far greater than ever before. We need to have such a compelling product that those Europeans still say, 'You have to go to New Zealand,' " Mr O'Connor said.

The strategy acknowledged that tourism operators would have to earn more to invest in eco-friendly practices and attract skilled staff. Wages in tourism and tourism- related jobs lag the all-industry average by up to $8000 a year. Better yields were imperative too, with the average spend of international visitors - $2899 per trip - roughly unchanged since 1999.

Wellington coach tour operator Wally Hammond said profits would have to come before eco-investment, because it was hard enough to make money now.

Upgrading his six-vehicle fleet to a carbon-neutral, environmentally friendly state was realistically a 20-year project. "At this point in time, going out and buying those vehicles is prohibitive and I don't think any of us could survive."

An emission-safe fleet could be managed in the short term only by big companies with large infrastructures and budgets. "It's the economic hard facts that will affect not only myself but the other small operators as well."

Ms Luhrs said discussions with the Government over incentives for investment were yet to show any traction. "I think money can be found, but there is going to have to be a commitment from the operators."

Clearly there are many factors involved in addressing the issues New Zealand is facing relating to its tourism industry and the environment.  I think the level of discourse is encouraging and could serve as a model for similar discussions across the world especially here in the US.

 

Toronto Water "More Pure than Perrier" Says Mayor

Climate change summit in New York sparks debate over who has the best city tap water

An excellent little side note to coverage of the climate change summit in New York appeared in today's  Toronto Star.   

A San Francisco delegate stood up near the start of yesterday's climate change summit here at the posh Essex House hotel and held up a fancy bottle of water from Norway, one of many given out to summit attendees. "A lot of carbon was used to move this water here," she said. "But New York has great tap water."

Toronto Mayor David Miller said he went for a run in Central Park on Monday and heard a New York tour guide telling visitors the city has the best water in the world. Miller couldn't resist a plug for Toronto's taps, telling the crowd that tests show Torontonians get water that's "more pure than Perrier."

Sidebar - I think its great what the SF delegate did regarding the water from Norway.  I mean honestly don't people get it in this country.

Computer IT Managers Concerned about Green Issues but Lack Formal Plan

Study Finds IT Managers Concerned about Green Issues but Lack Formal Plans to Address them

A recent study by Forrester Research showed IT managers are concerned about environmental and energy matters related to computer equipment but few have established plans to deal with their concerns.

CNET reports the study found 85 percent of the 124 IT procurement officers surveyed felt environmental issues were important.  Their sentiments were echoed among IT vendors who are stepping up efforts to development energy-efficient products and address environmental problems.

The problem is despite the availability of greener products, such as servers and chips that consume less power, only one quarter of the IT managers surveyed said they formalized any kind of "green" criteria for their operations.

The report's author Christopher Mines said green initiatives in IT are motivated primarily by cost savings.  "We heard two reasons why green matters: efficiency and corporate responsibility. Most IT decision-makers told us that a green purchase would only happen in the context of cost reduction. These are hard-headed, ROI-driven business decisions," Mines said in a statement.

The study found that awareness of green issues varies widely among different customer companies but there was interest in hearing more from vendors.

The report also noted that vendors' green efforts include recycling and reduction of electronic waste, supply-chain efficiency, and less energy-intensive manufacturing processes.

A separate study by communications consulting firm Hill & Knowlton, which queried 420 people involved in IT decisions, found results similar to those published by Forrester Research.

The Hill & Knowlton survey found that most organizations don't have a defined energy strategy and that 77 percent thought that there should be a chief energy officer.

Dubai Named Cleanest City

Dubai was just named the most "Environmentally Safe City" by the Kuwait-based Arab Towns organization.

According to the Financial Times, the organization cited Dubai's record in developing effective programs to maintain overall cleanliness of the city and control noise and other pollutants.

Hussain Nassar Lootah, Acting Director General of Dubai Municipality said the city, despite its tremendous growth, follows a balanced environmental policy to accomplish sustainable development.  "Environment conservation assumes top priority in our development plans," he said.

I guess when you have the kind of money Dubai does for building there really isn't an excuse not to factor sustainability into building plans. 

(ed.) A reader makes an excellent point when she said, "how can this be the case when they are filling in the coastline to build artificial islands in the shape of palm trees?" 

 

More Trouble for Plastic Bags

Two separate actions one in Oakland, CA the other in Ontario, Canada target the plastic bag.

Today's San Francisco Chronicle reports the Bay Area movement against plastic grocery bags that started with a ban passed in San Francisco continues to gather momentum, with Oakland joining the still-short list of cities Thursday poised to outlaw the environmentally unfriendly sacks.

At the same time, the city of Oakland will consider encouraging merchants to charge a nickel for paper grocery bags to persuade consumers to use cloth carriers and thus further reduce the impact on the environment.

The proposed ban would apply to petroleum-based, non-biodegradable shopping bags. The ordinance requires retailers to use only compostable or biodegradable plastic bags or paper bags that are 100 percent recyclable and contain a minimum of 40 percent post-consumer content.

Ontario plans to cut plastic bag use in half withing five years

The Canadian Province of Ontario is working on a plan to cut plastic bag consumption in half within five years according to todays Toronto Star.

The Ontario government is joining forces with recycling groups, grocers and retailers to cut the consumption of plastic bags in half within five years. With a little prodding, most consumers will do the right thing and reduce unnecessary use. Anything that cuts down on the 7 million plastic bags we take home every day is a step in the right direction.

The program unveiled by Environment Minister Laurel Broten this week should do just that. It aims to encourage the use of reusable bags and bins through incentives such as reward points and cash inducements. As well, it will promote recycling, discourage plastic bag use through education campaigns and offer modest support for research projects into packaging issues.

JavaPop First Organic Fair Trade Coffee Soda

JavaPop is a new organic Fair Trade certified coffee soda made by JavaPop Inc. in Vermont.  The company is partnering with Snapple to distribute the line of five flavors (Espresso, Vanilla, Mocha, Hazelnut and Caramel) nationally. 

The carbonated beverage is nondairy-based and 100-percent natural. JavaPop is flavored with fresh-pressed pure cane juice and coffee beans from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. The drink is free of highly refined sugars, chemicals and other additives, and its container is made of recycled and repurposed glass.

The retro-inspired bottles will be sold individually

Oregon Company to create eco-convenience store

Oregon Company plans to fill a gap in the natural/organic retail arena with an eco-convenience store

Capitalizing on the rapid growth in organic and natural foods a Portland, Oregon company will open  eco-convenience stores.  Full Moon Foodies Inc. will offer the organic/natural products consumers are looking for with the added hours of a convenience-oriented store. 

"I got tired of having to hop into the car to drive to a mega-organic mart, fight for parking and waste time standing in long lines whenever I needed a few items," Ellisa Wee, founder of Full Moon Foodies, said in a written statement.

The Full Moon Foodies retail concept provides customers with a knowledgeable staff; a modern, upscale store design; multiple community-based urban locations; and extended hours past those of grocery stores, the company stated.

"We're not trying to re-invent the convenience store or the organic/natural food concept, we're trying to make it more accessible," she added.

"Current organic grocery chains have become too cumbersome to respond quickly to new opportunities," said Christian Brenneman, head of business development and marketing for Full Moon Foodies. "Penetrating different niches of the retail organic marketplace is the key. Innovative fresh concepts, like Full Moon Foodies, will surface and capitalize on the inadequacies of the established market leaders."

The company cited information from the Natural Food Merchandiser saying American shoppers spent more than $51 billion on natural and organic products in 2005.

Full Moon Foodies would join another company, SeQuential Biofuels, already in the Oregon and SW Washington area.  SeQuential offers consumers plant-based biofuels as well as a natural convenience store.

Black Google Sites Appearing on Internet Save Electricity

Black colored versions of the popular search engine saving electricity

Eco-IT consultant Mark Ontkush wrote a piece on his blog ecoIron saying a Black colored Google would save 750 Megawatt-hours a year in electricity. 

Mark cited EnergyStar statistics showing an all white web page uses about 74 watts to display while an all black page uses only 59 watts.  He computed some statistics based on the number of queries per day Google gets (200 million) and concluded there could be some significant energy savings by making a change in the screen color.

Well as now as Treehugger reported an all black Google - dubbed Blackle has emerged.  Blackle claims it has already saved over 4,400 watt hours of electricity.

While Blackle appears to be the most organized Mark points out there are several other similar sites out there including Google Black, Trek Black, Spanish Black Google and German Black Google

Method Bloq

If you're a sage fan like I am you are going to love the new Method Bloq beach sage body wash.  Sage is such a nice scent and I've never seen a product like the bloq before. 

Method scores a big hit with its new line of products called Method bloq.  The new line of non-toxic, paraben-free personal care products began to appear on store shelves in mid-April. 

As you'd expect Method went above and beyond in terms of the industrial design on the bloq.  Happy Mundane reported via Monocle that Method hired Josh Handy a product director for Karim Rashid to do the design. 

The unique slim square "bloq" design was apparently a "spur of the moment" creation according to Monocle.   They were originally going to use a round bottle design called "Seed" but there were issues with how it fit on store shelves and in the shower.  This is when Handy came up with the "bloq" design. 

Available in body lotion ($8), body bars ($6), body wash ($8), and shave cream ($6), the line includes fragrances such as Escape Artist (beach sage), Eternal Optimist (citron leaf), Go Getter (green mint), and Pure Minimalist (water flower).

In addition to their website check out Method's people against dirty blog. 

Mother's Day should be Renamed Guilt Buying Day

Mother's Day 2007 is projected to be a $16 Billion holiday for American Consumers

BY RIDER THOMPSON

Mother's Day is one week away.  I opened the Sunday paper this morning and immediately noticed a much larger than usual advertising section loaded with every major retailer's circular filled with Mothers Day gift ideas.

The idea of a Mother's Day isn't something I am opposed to at all.  Its seems perfectly within reason to have a special day recognizing mothers - but why does this have to equate to buying?

Mother's Day has become one of the worst corporate holidays in this country.  It is so far from sustainable it isn't even measurable.  The idea of recognizing your mom has been taken over by a retail industry that plays on feelings of guilt and has for years conditioned consumers to feel obligated to "recognize" their mother with a gift or gifts.  The holiday is to the point now where moms expect gifts and even feel hurt if they don't receive any.

Don't believe me?  Think I am some kind of a cold hearted eco-nut?  Well check out the National Retail Federation's own website and press kit on Mother's Day.  NRF says for Mother's Day 2007 "consumers plan to spend $15.73 billion as they shower the women in their lives with jewelry, flowers, clothing, and even trips to the spa."  According to them the average US consumer is going to spend $139 a piece on Mother's Day up from $122 last year.

“For mom, it’s the thought that counts,” said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. “As people find more creative ways to treat the women in their lives to something special, retailers of all types and sizes stand to benefit from Mother’s Day.”

The NRF president says its the "thought that counts" right so then why isn't spending a nice day with your mom or arranging a family activity or cooking a homemade meal acceptable?  Oh it is, but in addition to buying your $139 worth of goods for mom.

Hallmark says "the essence of Mother’s Day is reflection, honoring, remembering the importance of family, and acknowledging the power of women."  As long as you buy their cards to convey those sentiments.

According to NRF popular gifts for the holiday include greeting cards (86.8%), gift certificates (39.3%), books or CDs (29.3%), housewares or gardening tools 18.5%) and consumer electronics or computer related accessories (11.3%). In recent years, pampering mom with a personal service gift such as a trip to the spa or beauty salon has become a favorite gift choice, with 19.7 percent of consumers planning on dishing out $1.3 billion on these gifts. Last year, only 14.5 percent of consumers purchased this type of service for mom.

I cannot imagine I am the only one who thinks this is a tad insane.