STOP flying to, or importing food from New Zealand because you are committing a double act of eco-terrorism!
If you are flying to New Zealand
If you are one of the 2.6 million tourists who fly to New Zealand each year to hike the deadly mountain paths, swim the toxic lakes, or watch whales and dolphins death throes, you are committing a double act of eco-terrorism:
1. You contribute to burning an estimated 3.2 billion gallons of fuel flying in and out of New Zealand. [Each liter of fuel produces about 2.4 kg of CO2 or 8.8 kg/U.S. gallon ~ 19.4 pounds/U.S. gallon.]
2. You destroy the marine ecosystems and harm the creatures you come in contact with.
New Zealand: A cesspool of Toxic Sludge. Photo Credit: NZ Greens [Note: No implied endorsement of NZ Greens is intended.]
If you are importing food from New Zealand
3. A 1kg (2.2lb) bag of New Zealand kiwifruit (in any of its cadmium, arsenic, lead, mercury… or organochlorine falvors), or any other food imported from New Zealand, produces about 12.3kg (~ 27.1lb) of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent gases) pollution flying to the US, or 16.3kg (~ 36lb) of CO2e to Europe.
4. The pressure in New Zealand to produce food for export has turned the country into a giant sewage dump. “Hundreds of millions of tons of agricultural waste and farm runoffs are discharged into the lakes and coastal waters, and millions of tons of methane gas are released to the environment each year.” Extensive dead zones regularly appear off the coasts of New Zealand. Both NZ and Australia are major sources of industrial agriculture as well as sheep and cattle factory farming. “New Zealand cattle and sheep also produce methane emissions equivalent to 33 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.”
An excerpt from: Truth About ‘100% Pure New Zealand’ Advertising Campaign
New Zealand is the size of Colorado yet it hosts up to 94 million farm animals (livestock excluding poultry), which discharge an estimated 300 million tons of effluent to the environment each year. New Zealand’s intensive animal industries produce about 4 times more manure than they could safely use as fertilizer. [The leftover is discharged or washed off into NZ coastal waters.]
We import food from New Zealand … even though it makes no sense from a planetary standpoint. —Physicist James E. Hansen
Related Links:
- Emergency Warning to Tourists Visiting New Zealand
- Stop New Zealand Committing Eco-Terrorism!
- Food Fetishism + Cheap Oil = Mounting Pollution
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