Letters to editor

Kids plead Dispose of plastic properly Who said, "New Zealand is green"? Well, whoever said that has not seen all the plastic being dumped around the place and in our ocean. We would also like to know why people throw their rubbish, in particular plastic, out of their cars as they drive along the road. Plastic is being dumped on the side of the road and it is also being washed out to sea or thrown overboard. Google "Plastic in the Pacific" and make sure you visit "Synthetic Sea". Trust us, you will be amazed.
We have been monitoring how much plastic and other rubbish items are thrown out of cars and on to the side of the road. It is staggering. In just two weeks, we have seen 58 plastic bags, 63 plastic bottles, 5 plastic cups, and numerous beer bottles, paint cans, cans, boxes, chippie packets, newspaper and fast food rubbish. This was all in the Hawke's Bay area and we feel very upset by this. What message are we sending to our children and our visitors? The next time you are driving around our city, take note of all the plastic, especially plastic bottles.
We need to change the way we think about rubbish/plastic and how we dispose of it. Are there any laws for littering and, if so, are these laws being enforced?
Birds, fish, and other creatures eat plastic because it looks like their food source. Small plastic pellets, known as "nurdles" resemble fish eggs and birds eat these. As a result of this, birds end up with high levels of PCB content in their tissues.
PCB is a toxin and, when ingested by fish and other marine life, the pollutants are transferred from the pellets to the living tissue of marine creatures. Some people have even found small bits of plastic inside fish. Since 2007, the dumping of plastic in the Pacific Ocean has risen by over 50 per cent. Fifty per cent in just four years. Think about it. In just eight years, plastic will rule the Pacific Ocean, which will probably be known as the Plastic Ocean.
Did you know that plastic doesn't really breakdown, completely? Well, not in our lifetime, anyway.
So, basically, what we are trying to say is, do not litter. You are killing off sea life and other creatures, and causing great harm to our environment. Our aim is to generate discussion and encourage everyone to be more aware of their actions and how they impact on the future of our environment. The next time you see rubbish littering our place, pick it up and be the tidy Kiwi that we perceive ourselves to be.
From Tareha School
Kids who care
Brash not racist
At a time when the malfeasance and probable criminality of the Murdoch empire casts aspersions over the credibility and integrity of our own newspapers, Don Brash is attacked by the NZ Herald/HB Today, and the Dominion-Post in their cartoons and editorial comment as an out-of-touch racist. In a liberal democracy the papers are entitled to express their opinions as they see fit, but it is hypocritical and dishonest of them to accuse Brash of racism when he has from the day of his speech in Orewa in 2004, preached equal rights or "one law for all" for all New Zealanders.
No matter what convoluted logic or linguistic gymnastics the media use, Dr Brash is not an ethnocentric monoculturalist. The media tell us that separatists described last week's Act Party advert featuring the headline "Fed up with pandering to Maori radicals" as both "deeply offensive" and a "dog whistle back to the 19th century". Cultural sensitivity cuts both ways. We endure on an almost daily basis the racial vitriol and slurs of Harawira and co, so it is ironic that Dr Sharples can claim to be advocating the politics of inclusion when he is an advocate of Maori separatism. (abridged)
Tom Johnson
Napier
Name check
I read with concern an AAP item stating that the Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages will not register "Lucifer" or "Messiah" as children's names.
The former is Latin for "light bringer" and the latter Hebrew for "anointed".
I would suggest that somebody in the Registrar's office has been swayed by the biblical associations to these names rather than their etymology.
As this country is supposed to be non-sectarian, with a clear separation of church and state, I hope the Minister of Internal Affairs insists that employees of the state make decisions based on departmental policy rather than religious belief.
Jeff Allan
Hastings
Key meeting
It is with concern that I read, through your paper, that John Key, our Prime Minister, is meeting with the President of the US, Barack Obama, and many business leaders of the US. Is our pharmaceutical drug-buying arm about to be sacrificed on the altar of free trade for a trade deal with America?
If this happens, our drug/medical costs will go through the roof. Also, what other things is Mr Key offering for sale? We, the people, are told "it is not in our best interests" to be informed as to exactly what he is doing in Washington, apart from being told about the dinners he has had. Also, why is our PM so tight-lipped on the subject of the possibility of Mossad agents operating in NZ?
What were these Israeli agents doing in Christchurch on the day of the quake, and the multiple passports found on an Israeli quake victim? These, surely, are questions that require answers.
Trevor Douglas Wakely
Napier
Vets' treatment
Re the article "Vets' Treatment Draws Fire" (9/7/11) - what a national disgrace.
Each year at Anzac services, we honour our veterans, those who returned, just as we honour those who did not. Is this just lip service?
In 1981, I found myself in Crete just after the 40th anniversary commemorations, and, having an uncle who served in the campaign, basked in the generosity and hospitality of the local people who had real affection for the Australian and New Zealand troops who had tried to defend their island home. That our band of war heroes did not receive the level of honour accorded by the Australian Government to theirs is a scandal. If the report is correct (the "official party enjoying a lavish lunch on their own") then the minister's head should roll. At the very least, the veterans' expenses should be refunded and an apology tended although nothing can compensate for the insult to our heroes.
Phillip Rankin
Napier