Hi there.

I’m Joel and I’m excited to be part of the Green Guys Global team. I usually blog over at Life Goggles where we also write about green stuff, but mix it up with music and videos.

For those that know me know that I have just recently (last week!) emigrated to the West coast of the US. On the way though I spent 2.5 weeks in New Zealand and a short while in Australia and thought I’d pass on some thoughts regarding our trip.

We travelled on a coach tour in order not to pollute more with our own vehicle. There were many optional excursions that were to organic farms, or eco tours, in fact a member of our group had just spent two weeks volunteering on community projects and there were others on offer. New Zealand feels very eco friendly, however I’m not always so sure it is. The huge number of tourists prevent it from being so in many ways. The numerous hotels we visited for just one night made be appreciate Charles’s tip of bringing your own sleeping bag, and whilst they were (quite rightfully in some ways) proud of their jetboat rides and helicopter trips that were offered almost every day, the environmental cost of these trips must be huge.

Lake Tekapo and The Church of the Good Shepherd - New Zealand © Joel Williams

I did find a lot of information about handling waste. There they seem to have the 5 R’s:
- Reduce,
- Re-use,
- Recycle,
- Recover and,
- Residual Management.

The Christchurch museum had an excellent section for children and adults alike on this topic, including an example cross section of landfill over the last 50 years.

Now, like Southern California, most of Australia has been undergoing a drought for many years. I therefore expected to find a lot of messages about water conservation, yet this wasn’t the case. I wasn’t actively looking for it of course, but I didn’t think I’d need to.

They do have Eco Tourism Australia which certifies accommodation and tours if they are “environmentally sustainable, economically viable, and socially and culturally responsible”, which is a great thing, however I expected to see more for some reason.

There are whole University degrees devoted to the subject of sustainable tourism (and Green Girls Global has a great article), and whilst I highly recommend New Zealand and Australia for some many reasons, sustainable tourism wouldn’t be one of them. Yet.