A climate change survey of young New Zealanders has found
a whopping 96% are in favour of some changes to the country's
transport system, with the majority voting for substantial
change.
A delegation of young people will take the results to
Copenhagen this week as part of New Zealand's contribution to
the international climate change forum. With New Zealand
having one of the highest car ownership rates in the world,
the joint Unicef-Enviro-Challenge survey focused on transport
and its impact on climate change.
The survey asked New Zealanders up to the age of 28 to select
one of three options for the future of transport -- business
as usual, improving the current model, or changing the model.
Of the 243 respondents, an overwhelming 87% backed changing
the way New Zealand approached transport. This included
improving public transport, designing towns and cities to
make walking and cycling more viable, designing vehicles to
use more sustainable power sources, and extending and
electrifying the rail network.
A further 9% felt that the current transport model needed to
be improved. The survey results sent a strong message about
what young New Zealanders saw as the future of transportation
in this country, said Vicki Soanes, Unicef New Zealand's
advocacy manager international.
Another survey has found that New Zealand car owners have
mixed feeling about being "green' when it comes to their
cars. The research, carried out for the Energy Efficiency and
Conservation Authority (EECA) found that knowing how fuel
efficient our cars are was important to 84% of respondents,
and 71% would like to be able to buy biofuels at the pump.
However, New Zealanders would still prefer to drive a "dream"
car than a "green" car, according to the survey findings.
When asked for their choice of car if money was no object,
38% opted for a "green" car (of which 15% said their dream
car was a green car) and 46% went for a "dream" car.
Even car-loving Americans were more likely to go for green
cars (42%), as were Australians (41%).
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