Word on the street

To be honest,  we’re all a bit sick of the commentators sitting in their hybrid cars, trying to make us feel bad about how we live our lives. We thought it could be interesting to get out there and hear what people actually think about sustainability and get a bit of  a look into what everyday, young people are already doing.

So, today, we went out around uni and annoyed about 30 people in the middle of their lunches with a small questionaire-cum-survey and here we have the results!

Is sustainability important to you?

• 64% : Yes
• 11% : Yes but I don’t do anything about it
• 11% : Kinda
• 7% : No
• 7% : Random statements

Are there things you do everyday that you would consider to be “sustainable” practices?

Yes: 68%

No: 32%

What are some things that you do that you would consider to be “sustainable practices”?

• Recycling: Tins/ bottles/ plastic, Clothes, Shopping bags
• Buying environmentally friendly products
• Been vegetarian
• Reusing products
• Riding not driving
• Walking instead of driving
• Saving water
• Saving electricity
• Have dreadlocks
• Carpooling
• Recycling
• Composting
• Not upgrading electronics until necessary.

Why do you do these things?

Because it’s socially acceptable

To save the environment/ reduce global warming

To provide for next generation

To preserve New Zealand’s clean green image

To do my bit

To save money and time

So that I’m not a hypocrite/ practice what I preach.

So there you have it.

Fascinating.

ATM receipts

If you’re not already saying no to ATM receipts, thats one thing you can start doing today. Not only are receipts annoying (and sometimes depressing), they create a massive amount of litter and are less useful than a plastic bag. To put it in perspective:

In the USA alone, 8 billion ATM receipts are printed every year. If you joined these end to end, the result would be a roll of a paper long enough to circle the Earth’s equator 15 times!!! (according to Market Watch)

With some rough maths, I reckon New Zealand must be up around the 100 million mark.

WHOA! Thats crazy. So say no at the ATM. Hopefully, eventually we can put an end to ALL annoying receipts, you know the ones, like when you buy one thing at the supermarket and its still 30cm long. . .Yay! No more annoying scraps of paper and a little hug for the planet.