New Zealand: Sustainable Tourism & Human Impacts on the Environment | 2024 Information Session
Pallavi Chandna: Alright. You should be getting Pallavi Chandna: like a little pop up. That's asking you if it's okay to record so just go ahead and press. Accept that way. We are able to Pallavi Chandna: that way. We're able to send this out here. Pallavi Chandna: Me just check one quick thing here Pallavi Chandna: to make sure we are recording. And we are Pallavi Chandna: perfect. Pallavi Chandna: Okay.
Pallavi Chandna: back there. Alright. Yeah. Welcome everyone. Thank you so much for joining at me and site Mahmood, on this information session for the New Zealand program that's going on in the summer. So my name is, I'm going to be one of the resident directors for this program to New Zealand and I also wanted to introduce the other program. Resident director site. If you'd like to introduce yourself as well. Sayeed Mehmood: Hi, everybody! I'm Sayid Sayid Mehmud. I'm Sayeed Mehmood: faculty here at Cnr. I teach economics policy. Some of you might be in my policy class this spring.
Sayeed Mehmood: I would be one of the arrays with going to New Zealand. Pallavi Chandna: Yes, thank you. And Site has A company has gone to New Zealand before he went on, the program as a shadow last year for a few of the days and yes site. If you could just talk like if you'd like to just let them know how you what you thought of it, and how your experience was. Sayeed Mehmood: Oh, it was. It was awesome. If you decide to go. You're in for a treat, that's for sure, and you can see from from the picture right there on the opening slide, right? And and
Sayeed Mehmood: it was, it was really really nice it was. It had a lot of cultural elements in it which was really interesting to me. Sayeed Mehmood: In a lot of native culture activities with native people and and so on. And also, obviously, the beauty is just unparalleled. Pallavi Chandna: I can imagine I'm very. We're both very excited to go and excited to have students come with us, so we can all just have our minds blown by by the beauty of New Zealand. Pallavi Chandna: Okay, yeah. So this this program is called the Sustainable Tourism and human impacts on the environment program. It runs from the actual program starts on May ninth and goes to May thirty-first. But May seventh is actually when you'll need to be available.
Pallavi Chandna: So the flight to New Zealand is quite long, and you end up kind of losing a day as you're traveling just based on the time difference. So the dates that you're going to need to be available, for the program is actually from May seventh to May thirty-first. So just something for you all to keep in mind. Pallavi Chandna: The application deadline for this program is on the global education website, so global education dot Osc, and you can search the title of this program in New Zealand. And it is due January seventeenth, 2024. So you've got some time to think about it, as you're, you know, discussing with support people. You know, when you want to. When you want to pop. Pallavi Chandna: There is a course associated with this program. It's called ENR. 5, 7, 9 7.0 3. So it. This course is basically this whole program is completely experiential learning. So the course is kind of just a way to like. Pallavi Chandna: put all that experiential learning that you're going to be experiencing in the program as a way to get credit as well. So this can be something that you talk to your academic advisor about about how it could potentially fit into your curriculum. Pallavi Chandna: And anytime anyone has any questions feel free to pop them in the chat if you have them throughout the presentation, and then at the end of the presentation, you know we can have some time for questions, and you can always unmute and ask them as well. Pallavi Chandna: Yeah. So the program fee for New Zealand for this year is to be determined. So we are finalizing it kind of as we speak, and our goal is to have it published by the end of November. Well, before the application deadline. So you all have time to, you know. Consider that.
Pallavi Chandna: When you're thinking about applying, you can. Still, you go to the global education website for New Zealand and take a look at the program fee for last year, and that can be, you know, a good indication of, you know, around where it might be this year. Pallavi Chandna: The program fee includes experiences and excursions. So like all of the visits to different national parks. All of you know, if there's ever any museums. If there's ever any Pallavi Chandna: like other excursions and tickets that we need for those excursions, it's it's Pallavi Chandna: taking into account that it's also taking into account in country transportation. So we're going to have a coach that's taking us from place to place. And since we're not staying in just one city in New Zealand. We're kind of exploring the whole south island of New Zealand. We're gonna need a coach that takes us from one place to another. Pallavi Chandna: It also includes the accommodation. So the lodging for New Zealand, we're trying to keep it. More reasonable as that affects the program fee and wanna make it, you know, as reasonable of prices possible. So it's mainly gonna be, you know, hostile kind of Pallavi Chandna: a kind of environments. And, like, you know, moderate style hotels. Nothing, nothing too fancy, but something that will be like. Still, pretty comfortable. And usually we'll have students room in, as either, you know, groups of 2, or maybe sometimes 3 or 4 here and there. Pallavi Chandna: The program fee also includes some meals, so I would say about half the meals will be included in the program fee, and then half the meals will be on your own. So this is something to budget for as well. So the additional expenses. Are gonna be the osu tuition for that summer? Course? So in addition to the program fee, you'd wanna budget for, you know, the summer tuition.
Pallavi Chandna: We're also having this. The individual have students kind of book their own airfare individually rather than have a group flight. Pallavi Chandna: So what this does is, it gives you the chance to come a little bit earlier. Leave a little bit late if you'd like to do that. So you know, we understand that this is a long trip, and it's a long flight, and since you, you know, kind of be all the way in the in the southern hemisphere. If you want to spend some time looking, you know, visiting more places in New Zealand or go to Fiji or Australia. Pallavi Chandna: Australia, we understand that that could be something that you do after the program ends. And you can always book your book. Your departure at a later date, if you'd like.
Pallavi Chandna: There are some meals that won't be included in the program fee. These are situations where you might have a free day, and so you would be you'd be like having some time on your own to get meals. Pallavi Chandna: and then there's also the passport and the visa. So passport costs about. If you don't have a passport already, it costs about a hundred $50 to apply for a passport and then receive it. If you're interested in studying abroad, you know, either in this program or others. I absolutely recommend that you would start the process of applying for a passport. It takes about. It takes 11 to 13 weeks. Pallavi Chandna: To, you know. Get your passport, and if you don't start now, and you need to do like an expedited processing of the passport. It can cost even more. It can get kinda towards the 250 Pallavi Chandna: price point so definitely worth applying for passport early, and you know, one of the contacts for this program. Ryan Vonderhar can absolutely help you with that. So I'll include his contact information at the end of the slide, or like at the end of this presentation, and you can always reach out to him if you have any questions. And then there's the tourist visa for New Zealand. So this is kind of like a tourist tax. But anytime you would go to New Zealand, you'd need to. You'd need to get a visa as well. Pallavi Chandna: Alright. So how will you study? So, as I mentioned before, this program is all experiential learning. So you won't be necessarily spending. There might be some times where you might be like, you know, in like a little bit of a classroom lecture based environment. But the vast majority of the time, you know, it's gonna be like you all learning about conservation while being at a national park, for example. Pallavi Chandna: In New Zealand, or, you know, going to like a wildlife conservation center. And you know, learning from the people who are running that Wildlife Conservation Center about, you know the challenges that New Zealand is facing so it is all going to be
Pallavi Chandna: experiential learning. You're gonna spend a lot of time in the field. And it's gonna be. And it's a very hands-on program. So you'll explore geology, agriculture, indigenous history and culture sustainability through, you know, a lot of different Pallavi Chandna: learning activities. And then it will just be like a very fast paced program. So you'll learn a lot in a very short period of time, and it's pretty fast paced with a good academic rigor for this course that's associated with the program. So it's gonna be, an it's really gonna be an incredible experience. And we're really excited to to have you all be interested. But it is not going to be a vacation. So that's just Pallavi Chandna: that's something to kind of keep in mind like there is going to be a lot of like educational aspects to to this trip.
Pallavi Chandna: There will be, you know, a group project and presentation stakeholder debates and just some small knowledge based quizzes associated with the class. But you know, it's gonna be a balance between, you know, working on the course, and you'll all be able to do it together while also enjoying all the activities of the program. Pallavi Chandna: So a little bit more about the course. So it's called 5 7 9 7.0 3 that you'll be enrolled in in the summer if you decide to go on this program Pallavi Chandna: and at first you'll have some pre departure readings and a quiz, so a chance to learn more about New Zealand on your own, and some readings as well as a chance to introduce yourself to the rest of the group of people who are going on the program. Pallavi Chandna: So the course is going to be Pallavi Chandna: organized over different modules like themes of the program based on you know, either some themes that might be our like, you know, sustainable tourism, for example. So you'll have, like certain readings and lectures based around sustainable tourism, or, you know, invasive species management, for example. And then there's gonna be like certain assignments around that kind of theme. So just something to consider about the course.
Pallavi Chandna: You'll have readings, lectures, essays, and activities. And quizzes, but also a final exam near the end. And then there's like a long term group research project that site and I will lead you through. And a post trip reflection. So Pallavi Chandna: the group project is meant to be like almost being like an ethnographer. So it'll be a chance for you to interview a lot of the stakeholders that you'll be meeting in New Zealand about, you know, the different challenges that they're facing environmentally, and you know their perspectives on it. And you'll get a chance to meet. You know all sorts of different people who are working and conservation and sustainability in New Zealand. Pallavi Chandna: So the program is going to be on the South Island, so New Zealand has a north island and a south island, and our, you know, the more the most interesting stuff, in our opinion, is, is in the South Island. That's where you're gonna see a lot of the more beautiful Pallavi Chandna: beautiful mountain views and vistas and fjords.
Pallavi Chandna: So you can see some of the cities like Kaikoura Christchurch. We're going to be spending time in Queenstown and Dundin. So you know a lot of the places are kind of around the coast of the South island. Pallavi Chandna: So you know one place with Ki called Kikuorda. That will be spending time on. That's where you're gonna one of the real highlights of the trip, I think, was there from last year, where? You'll be able to experience a whale watch that's run by the Mori people. Pallavi Chandna: and which is, you know, the indigenous people of New Zealand, and that was something that previous students told us was a real highlight of the trip. There's also gonna be a seal colony watch as well. So lots of different chances to to see some of the cool coastal wildlife in New Zealand. Pallavi Chandna: Alright. So some things to know about New Zealand in terms of its geology. So the South island is home to. It's actually home to a lot of glacial activity. It's home to the Southern outs which were formed through shifts and tectonic plates. So you'll hear this a lot and you'll learn this in your course. But New Zealand is sort of at the
Pallavi Chandna: at the intersection of 2 tectonic plates. So there is a lot of like tectonic activity which results in a lot of really interesting geological formations. And also in addition to that those you know Pallavi Chandna: geological formations. There's also a lot of glacial activity. So we'll be spending time in Mount Cook. Which is where you're gonna be able to explore one of the Glacial national parks in New Zealand, and you can imagine that, you know, if you're going to a country that's, you know. Pallavi Chandna: influenced by glaciation, you can imagine how climate change could be causing problems in New Zealand as a result of that. So humans have only been in New Zealand for 600 years. Right? So even as they're experiencing all of these different challenges, they are still, you know, learning even how to live with the land that they're on. Pallavi Chandna: Alright. Yeah. So, as I mentioned New Zealand, especially, the South Island is kind of at the intersection of 2 tectonic plates. So another thing that you all learn about is some of the negative aspects of that. So there are positive aspects like the beautiful views, the best hiking and mountains, and you will get a chance to do a lot of hiking. But one of the problems this results in Pallavi Chandna: this tectonic activity results in is something is things like earthquakes. So in 2,011, there was a pretty devastating earthquake in New Zealand, and part of what you'll learn as soon as you get to New Zealand is some earthquake drills, too. There's never, of course, been an earthquake while we've been on the program, but it is something that you'll prepare for, and it's a big part of the
Pallavi Chandna: purpose of the time that you'll spend learning about in Christchurch. Pallavi Chandna: so in Christchurch is a city in New Zealand, in the South Island that was particularly affected by this 2,011 earthquake and some of like the infrastructure we're building is being shown in that picture in the left Pallavi Chandna: left bottom corner. Pallavi Chandna: But it's also, you know, the community resiliency that happened after this earthquake about, you know, like the community of the South Island coming together to help rebuild, is also something that people in New Zealand are very proud of so definitely something that that's important. To manage the infrastructure in New Zealand as well as it kind of leads to some different questions as well, just as Pallavi Chandna: you know, they're building all this extra infrastructure that they need. They're doing the best they can to do it sustainably. But there's also, you know, sort of this cost benefit that people need in New Zealand need to consider with like how they're conserving wildlife and what it means to the wildlife there when they're, you know, needing to build some new infrastructure. Pallavi Chandna: We will also be spending time in Queenstown, so II myself am especially excited about this. But Queenstown is the is the adventure capital of the world. Right? So we'll spend a lot of a few days on the later half of the trip there, and it's kind of referred to as a playground for people who love the outdoors.
Pallavi Chandna: So there is going to be canoeing, ziplining, hiking there should be, I believe we're planning, you know, a free afternoon there where students can do other things on their own but one thing that we'll also be considering while we're while we are. There Pallavi Chandna: is what it's like to live in a town that might be more designed for tourists than the people living there. So when we, when we talk about sustainable tourism, we're kind of thinking about all the different businesses in Queenstown. That might be, you know, serving tourists. And but also how are they conducting business in a way that doesn't negatively impact the environment nor negatively impact the people there. So that, you know, involves Pallavi Chandna: how they're sourcing responsibly. It's also how they're considering. You know, the land that they're using. And you will spend a lot of time taking a critical look at this. You'll you'll spend a lot of time enjoying it as well. But we also want to kind of think critically about about how you know these companies are working with the land
Pallavi Chandna: so as part of your group project, this will be a great chance to talk to other tourists. Pallavi Chandna: do interviews with local businesses and community members, and see if there's any gaps that exist between community supportive tourists as well as investment in infrastructure versus like, whether they're supporting their residents appropriately as well. Pallavi Chandna: There are going to be businesses with the indigenous people in New Zealand that we work with while we're in Queenstown. So specifically, in the more like, especially with the outrigger canoeing, we're hoping to work with the local Mori business.
Pallavi Chandna: Oh, sorry. One other thing to keep track of here, but New Zealand is gonna be a place where we're going to do a lot of hiking. So one like, I know one thing that I'm gonna do to be preparing. And one thing that the previous resident director did was just kind of practice, you know, walking like 5, 6, 7 miles, cause there's gonna be a lot of days where we do that pretty regularly. It's a pretty like high activity program. Pallavi Chandna: Another theme of this program is the Mori history and culture. So the Morei are the indigenous people in New Zealand, native to the land, and there are, you know, New Zealand is known to be a bicultural country which is really proud of its you know, mori history and mori culture, but there are still there are some, you know. Pallavi Chandna: there's still some tension there that that the more you people are experiencing with with certain availability and access to resources. So you'll definitely get a chance to learn about the history and culture Pre and post colonization. You'll learn more about indigenous land management practices. The multi prospective with relationships to the environment is is different than some of the other. it's different, you know, than some of you know the other perspectives that might you might experience there, because it's a very. It's a big focus on them wanting to live with the environment rather than living on the environment, or, you know, extracting from the environment. So you'll also learn about the multi perspective on the Christchurch Rebuild project due to the earthquake as well as other implications of that rebuild.
Pallavi Chandna: and then you'll also get a chance to understand a traditional mori ceremony. So one thing that you see here on the upper right corner is is something called a Marai that is like a sacred place that the mori have to invite you in, and so you will get a chance to be invited in and observe a traditional mori ceremony, too. Sayeed Mehmood: If I could add, I mean not. Just observe a traditional ceremony, you will actually participate in it. So in the process of inviting you in is a give and take process. So there are speeches, and there are songs you have. You will have to sing a sound. They'll sing a song and so on. It's it's it's really interesting Sayeed Mehmood: and and very, very beautiful. Pallavi Chandna: Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, Pop, in anytime site, for sure. Excited to experience that in person, too. Pallavi Chandna: Yeah, okay, so let's talk about resource management. New Zealand. Another another big theme there.
Pallavi Chandna: So this program is, has a lot of emphasis on sustainable tourism and tourism is certainly a very large part of New Zealand's economy, but agriculture is also a huge contributor to New Zealand's Gt. Gdp. Through dairy lumber and different wineries. So one thing you might notice in New Zealand, and that hopefully, we'll get a chance to see is there's also a lot of like vineyards throughout New Zealand. So we will learn about these different industries and how resource are managed in these contexts and what the implications are. Pallavi Chandna: We'll also get a chance to look at the extractive energy. That's it's running in New Zealand. So 95% of New Zealand runs on hydro electricity. So there's always gonna be sort of that tension and balance between using the land versus trying to do things sustainably, and we will kind of be able to compare and contrast how it looks in New Zealand, versus how it it works in the Us.
Especially as different restrictions in the Us. Are kind of being loosened. Pallavi Chandna: And something that I mentioned before is also that balance between how species are managed to protect native native ecosystems. So as I mentioned with like sort of the Christ Church we build, even with kind of managing their their resources. They kind of have that tension with balancing the wildlife conservation, too. Pallavi Chandna: So another theme here is the invasive species management. So, New Zealand being an island country, it has no native wildlife Pallavi Chandna: so, aside from maybe a few bat species that were able to, you know, colonize New Zealand by flying there. There are a rich diversity of birds that are endemic to New Zealand, and there were no native predators to eat them. So many of those birds like the key we would just widely known in New Zealand never actually learned to fly, or, you know, learn to resist predation. So when European settlers introduced like predators, you know, when they came with rats and possums and the like. Pallavi Chandna: like that led to a lot of native bird populations becoming extinct in New Zealand, and even now, because of the predators, thousands of plants and bird species are being threatened, so something that I know from Pallavi Chandna: when insight please feel free to speak to this too, but something that I know from Ryan is that what's like? Students will get a chance to learn about that predator free by 2050 campaign in New Zealand, where you know the government is trying to either, you know, re locate birds to other islands, just, you know, conserve them as well as like actually poisoning the predators there to kill them. All
Sayeed Mehmood: right. It's it's it's really amazing to hear how serious they are. I mean, they're not shy about killing anything that might. Sayeed Mehmood: We'd be a predator including, you know, even household cats if they become, and a nuisance, you know they would. They would. They would take your kid if they have to. Yeah. So yeah, that really serious about this. And you can imagine why? Because I mean, otherwise, it would be devastating to their endemic wildlife. So that's that. Pallavi Chandna: Yeah, sure. Yeah, I definitely didn't realize that they were going going towards even like any sort of domesticated animal that, you know, was had escaped in the wild or something like that. Yeah, like. So you can imagine, right that as serious as they are. Pallavi Chandna: this, this is a cost. Right? So they're trying to save save all these endemic species. But you know what is the cost of putting all this poison out there in the environment? And there is gonna be a chance to do a day of service. And learn about the invasive species management focused on plants as well as animals in in New Zealand. Pallavi Chandna: Alright. So let's talk a little bit about different ways that you can fund this experience to New Zealand. So you know, we understand that this is while this is like a fantastic opportunity. We understand that it's expensive and just know that there are a lot of different scholarships and funding sources for for global education. You know, we want this to be an opportunity that
Pallavi Chandna: we can help you make happen for you. If it's something you're interested in. Pallavi Chandna: So there are university level scholarships. There are scholarships through the office of international affairs, and there also are scholarships that could be specific to global education just within your academic unit. Pallavi Chandna: So I know, if you are like, in a Cnr, we have a global education scholarship. It's due November thirtieth. That is open now, so you can even apply for that for pro like summer, 2024 programs if you're interested in but if you are not an Inr major, you know your academic unit, meaning, like your department or your college might also have global education related scholarships.
Pallavi Chandna: There are also other grants that you can use. So if you are a second year and you eventually are gonna get access to step funds. You can use step for global education. In fact, many students use step for global education, honors and scholars also has some enrichment grants. So if you are in the honors or scholars program. You could, you could check some of those enrichment programs or enrichment programs, scholarships. App, too. Pallavi Chandna: This book as a broadcast podcast is a podcast run by by Ryan Vonderhart. And it is kind of he's the host. And he talks about different ways that you can fund your experience so definitely something to explore. If you're interested. Pallavi Chandna: when you're applying, you would open an application through the global education dot osu dot ed website, and opening. An application like that costs nothing. So if you wanna take a look at the application and get an idea for what is required, I would certainly recommend doing that cause you don't need to. You don't need to pay to to open an application. Once you, if you decide you want to submit an application, that is, when you would need to consider some costs.
Pallavi Chandna: So the application fee is about a hundred $50. That needs to be paid with the credit or debit card. And again, application deadline is January seventh. Pallavi Chandna: Once you submit your application. You would need to. There. Pallavi Chandna: there is that piece of the application process. But we'll also have group interviews. So the week after the application deadline the couple of weeks after the application deadline we will also have group interviews and then kind of decide Pallavi Chandna: on, you know who's going going on the program? So those interviews will be with some people in E and R, but mainly it'll be with myself inside. Pallavi Chandna: So if you have any questions we can. We can go over it now, and you can also send me an email or reach out to Ryan Fonderhar, and then, after going through some questions, I wanted to show you all the the global education website cause there are some some cool things on there. So yeah, I will stop sharing Pallavi Chandna: for now. And just see if if any of you all have any questions, please feel free to pop them in the chat or
Pallavi Chandna: or unmute. Pallavi Chandna: Yeah. And it can be any questions about the course or questions about Pallavi Chandna: questions about what we'll be doing. It can be questions about funding happy to talk about all of that. Pallavi Chandna: And in the meanwhile, I'm gonna quickly bring up the global education website. Div show you tip.
Pallavi Chandna: Okay? Well, that's okay. Let's take a look over here at the global education website. So I can show you some of what I'm talking about for New Zealand. Pallavi Chandna: And then if any questions come up while we're going through this, that is totally okay, too. Pallavi Chandna: So if you go to global education dot Osc and go to programs, this is where you can start searching specifically for the program you're interested in. Since we are focusing on New Zealand, we just pop New Zealand in the search Pallavi Chandna: and wait for my computer to load Pallavi Chandna: does end up taking some extra time.
Pallavi Chandna: There we go. Yeah. So it's this, this one right here. And this is where you can kind of get more of an idea of the logistics in writing, and more of what you're gonna be doing in writing as well, and the different Pallavi Chandna: the different Pallavi Chandna: national parks that you'll be visiting that kind of thing. Pallavi Chandna: and this is also where you would be able to access the application. So it is you're able. You can apply already. So you can just click, apply now, and that's how you'd be able to start an application. Pallavi Chandna: You can also take a look here at the financials. Pallavi Chandna: So you can see what the program fee was. Last year, we again, we're gonna need to. We're still working on the program free for this year. Hopefully should get it published soon. But and this can also be where you find some information about scholarships. Pallavi Chandna: Another thing that you can take a look at is this cost sheet Pallavi Chandna: and this shows you like, you know, estimates for the tuition. If you're in state or out of state, the program fee.
Pallavi Chandna: you know the application fee any administrative fees. And then this kind of gives you an idea of some of the other out of pocket costs like airfare. Any immunizations, passport and visa. Pallavi Chandna: that kind of thing. Pallavi Chandna: And this can be something that Pallavi Chandna: you if you're interested in step, you can just print out this cost sheet and attach it to your step proposal, and that can be like, I think, that's required for some people step proposals so that can be something that you pop in there, too.
Pallavi Chandna: Yeah, so that's just a couple of things that I wanted to share there. Pallavi Chandna: Great! Pallavi Chandna: Oh. Pallavi Chandna: well, if that's all I can. I'll stop the recording. and then I'll just hang around. And if anyone wants to talk to me individually or site individually, that's that's totally fine, too.
2023-11-15 12:40
