Linda Hall: Small changes make big difference

Linda Hall, Assistant Editor, Hawke's Bay Today.

Have you noticed how many advertisements for job vacancies there are about at the moment?

Not just for skilled employment either. In fact there are probably more job advertisements looking for people with few or no skills.

I remember not so long ago people complaining because "no one would give them a chance" and all the employers wanted "experienced" workers.

I heard on a television show yesterday morning that an employer in Auckland was looking for "10 people to start today". He was offering $28 an hour and all they needed to have was a clean driver's licence and clan drug test — not too much to ask.

I know that's in Auckland but from the amount of vacancies I've seen in the Bay I would hazard a guess employers are struggling to find employees right here.

As I've said before there are more people living in Hawke's Bay. You just need to go on the expressway at 8am or 5pm to discover that so therefore more workers are needed to accommodate them — great for our economy.

According to the website Wordometers as of May 14, New Zealand's population was 4,743,665. In 2000 it was 3,858,999. So that's 884,666 more people in less than a decade.

That's a lot more people for our beautiful country to cope with. It can cope, I hope, but we must all play a part in helping it.

I've banged on about the environment and plastic before but after listening to award winning underwater cameraman Steve Hathaway on telly saying that eight million tonnes of plastic end op in the ocean every year I have my doubts.

That's not a typo - eight million tonnes. Imagine what that is doing to the entire planet.

Recently there's been a big move to ban one use plastic bags and that's fantastic. It's a start. When I went to Countdown on Saturday with my reusable bags I was heartened to see several other shoppers with bags.

I asked the lovely person at checkout if she thought more people were bringing their own bags. She said it was getting better and that even though it took her a bit longer to pack into reusable bags she liked it because plastic made her dermatitis play up. There you go, plastic is not only bad for the environment but it's also bad for us, not to mention all the sea life that is being slowly but surely killed by it.

I have been making a concentrated effort to recycle as much as i possibly can. It's good for my fitness actually because instead of just putting my foot on the bin pedal I have walk outside and down the back to the recycling.

Starting with little steps is okay. Most people are really good at recycling newspaper, cardboard and glass because it's easy and you just need to put it at the gate for the big recycling truck to come and take it away.

But when you start thinking about the bag that your peas were in and all the containers that just about everything comes in sometimes it seems so overwhelming and we that doing our little bit will make no difference anyway and it goes in the too hard basket.

In reality it's not hard. And it really is a case of a little bit goes a long way.

As Hathaway said sometimes it's just a matter of a thinking ahead. He said he always sees bait and fishing bags in the ocean probably not dumped on purpose but just blown off boats. A bit of thought would be all it takes to ensure that doesn't happen.

That's the thing we all need to give this rubbish problem — some thought. Make some small changes — you'll be surprised at how good it makes you feel.

■Linda Hall is assistant editor of Hawke's Bay Today.