Because Christchurch is an eco-municipality--a town that has adopted holistic sustainability and community involvement into its charter--I feel that many of the things I'm seeing shouldn't be happening.
In defense of Chch, I'm sure I'm not seeing the whole picture, I know that I don't have a sense of how it was (so that I can see the improvements), and New Zealand in general is a step behind on the whole recycling, composting, bringing your own cups to the coffee shop sort of thing, as they have never, and still don't have to worry about where their garbage is going to go. They have plenty of room, and, in essence, are only coming to the "greener" side of things due to pressure from the rest of the world. Not to say that all kiwis are garbage mongering insatiable consumers, their government is far more liberal than the US's, with their conservative party being more Joe Liberman-y than Sarah Palin-y and there are plenty of sound decisions being made. Also, I'm not saying that these aren't problems in the US either, in coming here, I was lead to expect more of an Eco-topia in comparison to the US because EVERYWHERE else is better, another way-to-go International Programs.
Right though, these other problems.
Cats outside. I am new to cat fancying, but fancy them I do. With a possible exception of farm cats, I don't think letting cats run around unsupervised can even come close to being healthy for the neighborhood, the birds, the cat, other cats, or people. I understand though that cats are put outside in lieu of having a litterbox inside, putting cats outside allows the cats to evacuate in yards, not just your yard like a classy pooch, but other peoples' yards, allowing for much quicker and easier spread of disease, plus, a cat pile in the middle of one's driveway simply cannot enhance the aesthetics of the neighborhood. New Zealand developed so that there were only two land mammals--the long tailed and the short tailed bat, that means that the majority of Kiwi ecosystems rely on birds. Cats are a primary cause for the annihilation of the native bird populations of New Zealand. Fortunately, cats are also taking care of the introduced birds as well. The cats themselves, as evidenced by Lucy the scabby tabby, are prone to fighting when left out at night and Lucy came home one morning looking very pathetic, bloody, and infected (cat's mouths, I learned while at NWC, have more bacteria than dogs, and birds, bunnies, and squirrlies, that were found by cats are much more likely to die of infection than those found by dogs). Though Lucy is well on the path to recovery, she still finds it necessary to rub me with her nasty wounded area. This could have been avoided if Lucy were an inside cat. Dirty, scabby, poopy, cats are also much more likely to spread diseases to people when they come home to eat. It is simply a bad idea.
Coffee cups! It is very rare to see anyone drinking coffee shop coffee out of anything but a paper cup (as compared to the US where it is practically a sin not to bring your own travel mug to a coffee shop, or at least is a sign of some secret eco-superiority). I do not have a travel mug, and, a bit guiltily bought a flat white today to stave off exhaustion. One flat white was not enough, so instead of having a whole new paper/plastic cup, I brought the same cup up to be refilled. This is not an uncommon practice, and I do it quite often at the Bean. Instead, before I could object, my perfectly good cup was pitched and I was told, "Right love, we'll get you a fresh clean cup." I was fairly upset, and I don't see why that even happened. It's not like my remnants were going to affect the already disgusting coffee, nor did brewing the espresso shots offer any sanitation concerns as there is no contact between the machine and the cup, and, honestly, it's not like the cups are that sterile to begin with. I would have pitched the cup in the garbage can next to me if I wanted a new cup. I am now keeping my eyes out for my own travel mug--preferably from a second hand shop, as I have a hunch that more energy is required to make an actual mug than is saved by replacing the disposable cups, but at least I won't feel guilty about putting anything in the garbage, and secretly, I'll know that I'm ecologically superior to everyone else--and that's what really counts.
Though the byo shopping bag fad has caught on in New Zealand, the concept of "brown bagging it" has not. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE is coated in cellophane, or is in some way over packaged. Though Sue doesn't pack a lunch for me every morning, other people's families do, and everything is wrapped in plastic and stuck in a plastic bag. No re-usable tupperware. No lunch sacks. One isn't expected to bring home any packaging! Food sold on campus is coated in plastic--some of it (the curries) are sold as take away in tupperware quality packaging, and are expected to be thrown away. However, in a sense of balance, I suppose, in food courts at the malls, food is served on real plates with real silverware and is reused.
The buses are fantastic and cheap here. They go places that are useful and are reasonably on time and frequent. That is a bonus of the eco-municipality. On the flip side though, the people who have cars rarely opt for the bus, so they mostly serve to shuttle teenagers, college students, eco-superior ex-pats, and the less than middle class folk around--people who don't have cars. So, the buses aren't really getting any cars off the road, but do serve to provide a bit of social justice, and they are there.
Ultimately, no where is perfect, and things could be a lot worse. I would say that I'm not complaining, but I suppose I kind of am. So it goes.
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