Climate crisis cannot, and will not, be ignored
We all know now that burning coal is fuelling the climate crisis and has to stop.
Not everyone knows that climate breakdown is now happening so fast that even the scientists are scared.
A survey of hundreds of top climate experts by UK newspaper The Guardian in May found that most were experiencing overwhelming fear and frustration with the lack of action by governments to reduce carbon emissions.
James Renwick from Victoria University says global heating has the potential to wreck our way of life and none of us will be unaffected by the devastation.
So why are Fonterra still burning coal? And why are state-owned enterprise KiwiRail still transporting it, when the government has declared a climate emergency?
Extinction Rebellion asked those questions in December 2021 when they stopped the daily trainload of coal that travels through Dunedin from the coal mine in Southland to the factory in South Canterbury, for the sixth time.
I can tell you, we still haven’t received an answer!
On Wednesday, July 31, seven climate protesters will be in court in Dunedin for their part in stopping the coal train.
Unlike our cowardly government, who can’t stand up to the polluters, these brave people were not afraid to stand up for our children’s future and act in the best interests of all of us.
They deserve our gratitude and support and I will be outside the courthouse to support them next week.
Pine trees are certainly not the best way to capture carbon (ODT, 18.7.24).
I keep reminding our environmentalists that there are way better options for New Zealand.
Our radiata pines are short growing, messy, very flammable and short-lived.
Giant Californian Redwoods are the ultimate carbon sequestering organisms on the planet and they can do it for 3000 years in the right conditions and they have a brilliant Mycorrhizal network that is nature's carbon to soil delivery system and are also way more disease resistant.
Bonuses are durable timber plus the foliage is just like our native podocarps! They can't halt the unstoppable destruction of international private equity on our planet, that is up to homo sapiens who need to form a unity government before they get close to staving off that extinction event, but nature certainly has the right trees and our kids need to see us doing something or they will feel a bit hard done by, hopelessly depressed and give up on working.
Don’t do it DCC
I don't envy the DCC in facing the unpalatable choice between higher rates rises than usual or the sale of Aurora. But clearly the best thing to do for Dunedin is to retain public ownership.
While the cash injection from a sale may limit rates increases, any new owner of Aurora will seek to profit from their purchase.
Overall I expect this will reduce Dunedinites' bank balances more than any offset may provide. Certainly for renters and single homeowners. Landlords might enjoy some benefit.
For the past generation New Zealanders have suffered due to short-term thinking around asset sales both by national governments and local bodies. Not only in the loss of income, but also in the loss of public accountability.
I urge the DCC to avoid that mistake.
Drug treatment as a main solution disappointing
Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners medical director Dr Luke Bradford’s claim that GPs diagnosing and treating adult ADHD will be a game-changer is true.
It will undoubtedly lead to a massive increase in the prescription of psychiatric drugs for adults who are struggling, without those adults receiving an appropriate assessment of their difficulties with a mental health clinician.
Far from this being similar to a GP extending their skills to skin cancer surgery, the proposal seems more like asking GPs to take up a bit of dentistry. It is disappointing that without any definitive understanding of the causes of ADHD, without any strong evidence for the claimed benefits of ADHD psychiatric drugs, and with research finding over half of people stop taking their prescription within a year because they were ineffective or had intolerable side effects, the college is presenting drug treatment as the main solution. People who are struggling deserve much better.
More rubbish
It was disturbing to read front-page news (ODT, 22.7.24) featuring someone wanting even more capacity for the disposing of general rubbish. Are we not aiming, thoughtfully, to look at how we can actually reduce our proliferation of waste on all fronts?
Historical wrongs
Jerry Walton (Letters, 22.7.24) writes glibly that "we all have equal rights regardless of historical wrongs". But if we do not pay attention to the current effects of historical wrongs, we are doing our country a grave disservice.
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