Inefficient irrigation practices lead to 38 percent loss of mean annual water yield each year and the amount of water used for irrigation in New Zealand doubles every 10 years.
Some of the not-so-smart realities of our resource use, waste generation (3.4 million tonnes goes to landfill in Auckland every year), and infrastructure issues (a traffic congestion cost exceeding $1 billion in our biggest city) were highlighted by IBM Australia director Suzanne Kerwan at recent NZ Business Council for Sustainable Development breakfast.
Calling for solutions that will help build smarter planet, Kerwan noted that the demand for change is growing with 59 countries and jurisdictions now either having or pursuing mandatory cap and trade systems; 75 percent of companies seeing an increase in the number of advocacy groups collecting and reporting corporate social responsibility related information about their company; and, 25 percent of consumers saying they would switch brands for given product or service if provided with more ethical alternative.
More on “smart” planet initiatives on page 30 of this issue.
