My life often takes me to amazing places, no more amazing than the Great Barrier Reef, where I've just taken two dives. I'm not an experienced diver, though my two dives off the coast of Cairns, Australia, nonetheless rank high in life experiences. Hovering over almost any spot of the reef yielded an abundance of life, the level of action growing the longer one stays and looks.
My too-brief Australian adventure took place en route to Wellington, New Zealand, from where this is being written. I'm here for World Environment Day, which, for the initiated, is a United Nations-sponsored event, celebrated since the mid 1980s each June 5, hosted by a different city. Wellington is this year's host and the theme — "Kicking the Carbon Habit" — seems as fanciful as it is formidable. In typical U.N. fashion, it is relatively uncontroversial, meaning no swipes at Big Oil or Big Coal, no carping at Big Auto or Big Finance, no finger-pointing at Big Mining or Big Timber, no blaming of countries, political leaders, or pretty much anyone else. We're all here to be part of the solution.
Everything else down here should be so uncomplicated. Unfortunately, Australia and, so a lesser extent, New Zealand, seem to be going through the same throes of change as their brethren in Japan, North America, Europe, and elsewhere. High energy prices are roiling national politics, leading legislators to propose short-term gas tax rollbacks to ease prices at the pump. Administration officials, scientists, and activists are debating the extent to which the country should cut its carbon emissions — and who should pay for it. Critics charge the national government is giving short shrift to clean energy, while solar, geothermal, and wind energy companies are vying with one another over who will get the spoils of the country's growing appetite for clean energy. Meanwhile, the local media are having a field day finding hypocrites amid the ranks: legislators touting fuel efficiency but driving gas-guzzlers; corporations touting their green credentials but leaving their office lights burning brightly all night; the frivolity of government ethanol mandates amid rising food prices.
In other words, it feels just like home.
It's not entirely, of course. New Zealand, for example, is in many ways a shining beacon of sustainability, relatively speaking. Last year, Prime Minister Helen Clark announced her intention that New Zealand become the first carbon-neutral country, proclaiming: "I believe New Zealand can aim to be the first nation to be truly sustainable across the four pillars of the economy, society, the environment and nationhood. I believe we can aspire to be carbon neutral in our economy and way of life." New Zealand will have to do (friendly) battle with Costa Rica, Iceland, and Norway — all of which have made similar declarations.
Suddenly, it's no longer feeling that much like home.
Much like my dive, it seems that the longer you stay in one place, the more you can see.