Comparing Economic Development: New Zealand
In class on Wednesday, I had the opportunity to see where my country stood in terms of economic development. To start with, according to the Fortune 500 website, New Zealand has zero fortune five hundred companies while larger countries like Russia have many which make them leaders in industrialization. What I find is that the more fortune five hundred companies a country has, the more policies are favored towards their interests and success as opposed to legislation geared towards the environment and sustainability. I also found that New Zealand is very much geared towards sustainability as their government is much more open to enacting new legislation. Within the last 25 years, New Zealand had enacted the Resource Management Act of 1991 that sets out to monitor physical resources such as the land, air and water to make sure the environment is not being compromised. This piece of legislation helps maintain sustainability in New Zealand. Additionally, organizations like New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities are constantly researching ways to make urban areas more sustainable since many New Zealand live in the cities. What is also pretty cool is that organizations like Air New Zealand which is a prominent airline in New Zealand have tried to find ways to make flying environmentally friendly creating a sustainability advisory panel.
Even though New Zealand has made much more progress than larger countries, they are still trying to address problems associated with exports and production. New Zealand's main exports include meat, wood, wool, and dairy. They thrive through agricultural means which in turn influences their environment. About 2/3 of New Zealand's forests have been destroyed. New Zealand has issues with air pollution the the use of fossil fuels from transportation via cars is contributing to this issue. Carbon emissions are also very high. Another issue New Zealand faces is water pollution due to pesticides and other wastes from farms that become run off. Additionally, New Zealand has also had an issue with biodiversity being that as soon as people occupied the land, the biodiversity on the island has dropped significantly. When I first researched New Zealand, I had failed to see all the environmental issues this country faced only focusing on all the great things this country has done thus far in terms of sustainability.
Australia and New Zealand were placed together in a category terms of understanding sustainability. What makes our countries unique is that we both were colonized by the British and hold a high amount of biodiversity. Unlike other countries, we are not leaders in industrialization nor do we have major political power and ties. I feel like our countries focus more on their citizens and issues affecting them such as education and health as opposed to more international affairs. By placing all the countries students' chose in groups, we are able to better get a sense of how the economy, society, and environment all play a role in achieving sustainability. I enjoyed being able to work with another individual whose country was similar to my own. It really gives me perspective in comparison with others around the world. I can now appreciate the complexity of sustainability and how all the factors in that ven diagram really influence where a country stands in terms of sustainability.
Even though New Zealand has made much more progress than larger countries, they are still trying to address problems associated with exports and production. New Zealand's main exports include meat, wood, wool, and dairy. They thrive through agricultural means which in turn influences their environment. About 2/3 of New Zealand's forests have been destroyed. New Zealand has issues with air pollution the the use of fossil fuels from transportation via cars is contributing to this issue. Carbon emissions are also very high. Another issue New Zealand faces is water pollution due to pesticides and other wastes from farms that become run off. Additionally, New Zealand has also had an issue with biodiversity being that as soon as people occupied the land, the biodiversity on the island has dropped significantly. When I first researched New Zealand, I had failed to see all the environmental issues this country faced only focusing on all the great things this country has done thus far in terms of sustainability.
Australia and New Zealand were placed together in a category terms of understanding sustainability. What makes our countries unique is that we both were colonized by the British and hold a high amount of biodiversity. Unlike other countries, we are not leaders in industrialization nor do we have major political power and ties. I feel like our countries focus more on their citizens and issues affecting them such as education and health as opposed to more international affairs. By placing all the countries students' chose in groups, we are able to better get a sense of how the economy, society, and environment all play a role in achieving sustainability. I enjoyed being able to work with another individual whose country was similar to my own. It really gives me perspective in comparison with others around the world. I can now appreciate the complexity of sustainability and how all the factors in that ven diagram really influence where a country stands in terms of sustainability.
Oh wow - terrific detail - this blog combined with the next one make a nice rough draft! Great work!
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