Welcome to the first Green Ideas enewsletter!

In case you missed it, the fuss was all about an article they published which compared New Zealand’s latest hobbit-themed 100% Pure tourism message with the reality of our dirty lakes and rivers and high per-capita greenhouse gas emissions.

Ouch. You can imagine how our tourism operators have been feeling.

This story came hot on the heels of a big report on sustainability written partly by – wait for it – Auckland University Business School. Now, not so long ago you would have expected a business school to put out a report called ‘The cost to business of environmentalism’ or something, but nope – this was titled Green Growth: Opportunities for New Zealand  and was all about creating prosperity, building communities and reducing business risk by being more sustainable. (Insomniacs can read the full 299-page report here.)

‘Reducing business risk by being more sustainable’ might have sounded like a pie-in-the-sky idea two weeks ago, but I guess the New York Times has just shown us why that’s so important.

What’s also important though is that we don’t lose sight of all the little things we can do to make a difference. This week the New Zealand government is considering how to deal with threats to the Maui’s dolphin. There are only 55 of these beautiful animals left and whether they look good in Middle Earth-themed adverts or not, it’s crucial that they survive.

Luckily the good people at Forest & Bird have been campaigning hard to save them, so if you have a moment, visit their page and tell them what a good job you think they’re doing.

Regular Kiwis battling to save an endangered species – now that’d be a story for the New York Times.

Greg Roughan
Editor, Green Ideas magazine

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