Today is Earth Day (EDN) and I love our home planet earth and know we have the ability to be more respectful to our home. We just need to work together more. Earth Day is about taking action to make a difference.

Here is my email to the New Zealand Government.

Dear Government,

Thank you for your time on the phone this morning and passing on my ideas.

The reason I picked up the phone and made the call was today is Earth Day http://ww2.earthday.net/ and they suggested I call my local government and make a difference.

There are many things we can do as a nation and I feel New Zealand is in a unique position in the world to be a leader in the area of energy and other environmental projects.

An ambitious but highly achievable goal for New Zealand is to become 100% renewable in its energy. We are so close, up to 70% already is. Lots of countries want to achieve 30% renewable energy in comparison.

This doesn’t just have to come from installing more forms of power generation. New Zealanders need to become more energy aware and responsible. We also need more help from the government.

Solar water heaters. New Zealand could save a huge amount of energy by taking more advantage of this. The government should look at helping to make them more “affordable” in some manner.

You say the power companies and others are going to cry about lost business, well maybe they need to rethink their business models in this changing “environment”. Maybe they need to start providing more or different services. If they want to play ignorant like the music industry then they will be left behind while the people move. Or they can be proactive and start providing new technologies like solar water heaters, be the leaders, innovate and stay ahead in these times of required change.

The people are moving, we are thinking, talking and acting. Take Kev the electric car guy, www.kiwiev.com as an example. He is making a difference, and more people are doing the same everyday. The people are leading and sharing the information required to make the difference on their own.

Listen up government, New Zealanders need your support to change the way we think and act about energy as many big business don’t want to know about it.

There is no shortage of New Zealanders who are more than capable of making this happen. Nurture them!

Everyday there are new advancements in the technology required to make a huge difference. I watch it and read about it on the internet everyday. Mainstream media no longer provides information that I am interested in. I have discovered a whole new world of proactive new thinkers who are making a difference.

This is an opportunity for the New Zealand government to expand and be seen, not only for its anti nuclear stance but its goal to become the leader in renewable and efficient use of energy!

I have tried to keep this short while still pushing some simple yet I hope powerful ideas. I have also forwarded this email to Earth Day Network and Meridian Energy as I feel that they are listening and will also appreciate the ideas in this email.

Thank you for your time.
I hope it has provided more food for thought.

James Turner
New Zealander

My 10 cents!
=-)