More than just farting cows

My sincere apologies for that short and not-so-sweet posting yesterday. As I mentioned I had to rush out of the office and so I only had a moment or two for a quick note to you all. And so today I keep writing...

Day 3 and I’m still absorbing as much as I can. Met with the climate change team yesterday to discuss their program here and am quickly understanding the differences between our offices. As I said yesterday, the single biggest contributor to climate change in New Zealand is indeed due to its agriculture industry and its massive herds of cows and sheep "doing what they do best"! Most of WWF’s focus, however, is not around agriculture but rather around transportation and industry transformation. Through working with government to shift and revise policies, they hope to create significant industry transformation. One remarkable feather in the kiwi cap is the fact that 60-70% of all of New Zealand currently runs on renewable energy (mainly geothermal and hydro). If only Canada could utilize its natural resources as effectively as these guys.

Today I am catching up on some reading and getting familiarized with the Operational, Program, and Marketing & Comms strategies. I am really looking forward to meeting with the other project leads but that will have to wait for a later date as everyone is up to their eyeballs at the moment. With only 15 people in this office, it’s quite impressive how much they manage to accomplish!

The weather has not really been cooperating these past few days (ummm – really since I’ve been here!) and so I’m off to make yet another cup of tea. I’ve been hearing that the average temperature at home is in the high 20’s and I’m missing that terribly. The good news is that the moisture here makes the Botanical Gardens (where my office is situated) incredibly green; definitely not a bad view to take in as I type away.

Until next time!