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What’s your sustainABILITY?
Making New Zealand a truly sustainable country is central to supporting and protecting our unique and enviable identity. We have a once-in-a-generation chance to get it right but that means everyone taking responsibility, everyone improving their sustainability.
Environmental sustainability needs to become a habit.
The only way we collectively will achieve the change required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make New Zealand more sustainable is for greener living to become part of our daily lives.
We all know how hard it is to change habits, or develop new ones like regular exercise and healthy eating. It takes conscious effort for a while to walk the children to school or pick up the reusable bags before we go to the supermarket. After a while it becomes second nature.
Until then, many of us will need a regular prompt to think about what we buy, what we use, what we throw away and how we travel. Many of us also want advice on what we can do and some easy ways to get started.
There is a wealth of information available, especially on the internet, for those who want to live more sustainably. But it is not always easy to find, or to know which products and actions can make a difference. Much of the information provides only part of the picture. The Ministry aims to become a gateway to good ideas and guidance.
Which brings me to a key point: the recent emphasis on sustainability is not just about six new initiatives announced by the Government. Many work programmes in the Ministry – dealing with issues such as climate change, air quality, fresh water, urban design, sustainable business – are fundamentally about New Zealand’s sustainability.
Likewise, there are many programmes across government helping move New Zealand towards sustainability. Tougher insulation requirements for new homes, the Choke the Smoke and Low Carbon Diet campaigns, Walking School Buses, and the EnergyWise programmes are some examples.
Hugh Logan
Chief Executive and Secretary for the Environment
Ministry for the Environment
