Japanese advocacy
So, is a state company that mines and sells coal a sensible spokesperson for New Zealand’s clean, green image?
Apparently so. The Government is spending $10 million on a pavilion at the 2005 World Expo in Japan, which is opening over this weekend. As the Press reports:
New Zealand pavilion commissioner-general Phillip Gibson said he hoped that 15,000 people would pass through the Kiwi building each day and leave with a firm imprint of this country’s environmental treasures and a clear understanding of the technical capabilities of New Zealand firms.
The pavilion has been designed in keeping with the expo’s theme of “Nature’s Wisdom” to promote the best that New Zealand has in natural assets and technical capabilities.
A long, white cloud hangs low over visitors to the pavilion before it starts to rain on a 1.8-tonne pounamu boulder that was pulled from the Arahura River, on the West Coast.
So, who’s hosting the pavilion that seeks to showcase New Zealand’s environmental treasures? Why, Solid Energy, of course - the state company charged with mining and selling coal, that most environmentally-unfriendly of resources.
