Kia Ora from the south island!
On Monday, we boarded a ferry in Wellington that took us three hours south to the town of Picton. From here, we rode via bus for another two hours to the city of Nelson where we would begin our adventure on the south island for the second half of our time in New Zealand. Every week has been busy with fun activities and we are learning a ton along the way!
This week, we heard from speakers at both the Ministry for the Environment and from the EPA (Environmental Protection Authority) about New Zealand’s environmental policies and efforts to keep its citizens safe, and how the government works alongside the indigenous Māori people to make decisions and regulations about the environment. It has been incredibly interesting to make comparisons between New Zealand and the U.S. regarding governmental goals and actions, especially surrounding topics such as combating climate change. This subject has also been especially relevant as this is an increasingly hot topic around the country as New Zealand prepares for its upcoming 2020 general election in September.
Upon arriving in the south island, we travelled just outside of Nelson to hear from the Department of Conservation (DOC), learning about their efforts to rescue the whales that end up stranded along New Zealand’s beaches. Whale stranding has been an ongoing issue in this country, and the DOC has partnered with the local Māori iwi (tribe) and with public volunteers to save as many of these whales as possible by getting them back out into the ocean. Research as to why these whales are washing ashore has only just begun so we do not know exactly why or how these whales are coming ashore, but researchers believe that it is unlikely that these whales are directionally lost and unintentionally swimming to shore. Perhaps these whales are making their way to these beaches with the intention to die, so is releasing these whales back into the ocean actually helping these whales?
After learning so much about the whale species found in New Zealand, we were all very eager to spot some whales later in the week on our whale watching tour in Kaikoura. We saw three sperm whales, tons of seagulls and New Zealand fur seals, and many pods of both Hector and Dusky dolphins!
We ended the week with a visit to a dairy farm in Christchurch, learning about the effects of these farms on the environment and how farmers around the country have been adopting new techniques to reduce their nitrogen output. Dairy remains one of New Zealand’s most greatly exported goods, however the ammonia in the animal’s urine and feces gets converted in the soil into nitrates that can contaminate the local water supply and contribute to greenhouse gases. Farmers are conducting research to come up with methods that will reduce the amount of ammonium being excreted back into the environment, as New Zealand policies state that the country must reduce its Nitrogen leaching by 30% by 2022.
Amongst learning about and seeing all kinds of new species and environments, we have also learned more about some of the natural disasters that put life in this country at risk, including earthquakes. While earthquakes are an extremely unlikely hazard to us back on campus, New Zealand is at high risk of a quake at any time due to its location atop the intersection of two tectonic plates. Today, February 22, marks the 9 year anniversary since the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. This 6.3 magnitude quake killed 185 people and destroyed a significant amount of the infrastructure that made up the city and its suburbs. This natural disaster brought so much damage to the people and to the city, however if anything positive came from this event it would be that this time of catastrophe revealed how kind and caring the kiwi culture is! This disaster provided the city with the opportunity to rebuild, and we have all really loved immersing ourselves in this super friendly culture while exploring this newly rebuilt city!
– Laura