Smoke and steam rise from towers at the coal-fired Urumqi Thermal Power Plant in Urumqi in western China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Photo / Mark Schiefelbein, AP
Tom Pettinger (Weekend Herald, October 23) looks at why it is there is such apathy by wealthy countries toward the approaching climate change catastrophes ahead.
He states this denial links to what they see as an interference with their ability and right to maintain great wealth. The use of fossil fuels, an easy source of energy, allows such wealth, but is a source we know as one destructive to our way of life. This approach, Pettinger says, contributes to why they ignore the disasters accumulating and the effects on a growing number of countries, especially infertile, poorer ones.
Isn't there a need to override this manipulative control? Should we not be pursuing the truth, sidelining non-believers' rights to express themselves? Should we insist on reporting only the facts when disasters keep striking our country (and elsewhere in the world) through an honest and knowledgeable approach to the realities of climate change?
We must not allow personal gain through maintaining the status quo to continue.
We have little time left to make the changes we need before life as we know it disappears. Complete annihilation would be the sixth for the planet.
Other needs dire
I must compliment Bruce Cotterill (Weekend Herald, October 23).
He rightly points out that our nation, under our current leadership, is on the brink of divisive restructuring due to the hidden agenda of policies, namely the Three Waters initiative and the recommendations of the He Puapua report.
Our leaders continue to use Covid-19 and their clumsy responses to this pandemic to distract our attention from these suggested radical policy actions.
Cotterill points out that education, health, law and order, housing, welfare and financial management, where we are underperforming, are key issues that are in dire need of government attention rather than divisive policy actions that will cost us our democracy, equality and freedom.
Bob Lenihan, Ōrewa.
Sowing dissent
Bruce Cotterill claims (Weekend Herald, October 23) division existed only with the touchpoint of the Springbok tour. The division and disunity existed before the Tour and has existed since, magnified by events such as Te Tiriti settlements and the Foreshore and Seabed. Repeated elections have played on race and the failure of all cultures to hold Waitangi Day and Matariki as events of hope and promise.
A shining light of the last three years is how younger millennials and centennials have agitated for change
What is thinly veiled in Cotterill's commentary, is that affluent white people, as with the Springbok Tour, feel their identity and values are under threat and that centre-left politicians and media are the alliance that will sling all they own and value into the ocean.
Any idea that politicians are going to fix the structure and systems of our democracy misses the point and is typical of the wasteful tantrums and bleating of business leaders of late.
We don't need coddled, enforced unity and improved systems from above. We need mana, mahi and kaitiakitanga from within - white, brown and Asian. Mr Cotterill best stick to the business world. Or enter politics, he's a neat fit.
David Willingham, Mt Maunganui.
Weakest links
David Seymour is quoted (Weekend Herald, October 23) as saying people's freedoms were dependant on "the laziest person in your community choosing to get vaccinated".
George Bernard Shaw nailed this truth with his quote; "A family is a tyranny ruled by its weakest member".
Our five million strong family of vaccinated members (approaching 90 per cent) is being ruled by 10 per cent of its weakest members.
Ron Czerniak, Northcross.
Can't-be-bothers
Fran O'Sullivan (Weekend Herald, October 23), you hit the nail on the head. You should stand for Parliament. Our Government is far too soft to remove the benefits from those who are unvaccinated.
I have been fully vaccinated since the end of June, yet I am being punished by those who either don't want to, or can't be bothered. Why should anyone receive money for nothing, yet put the rest of the country at risk? When we were asked to comply, those of us with any intelligence did so; yet for us, nothing has changed.
Close all the takeaways until we are at orange level and watch the vaccine levels soar.
Shirley Kittelty, Te Atatu South.
Raising rentals
The Government is being urged by National Party MP Nicola Wills (Weekend Herald, October 23) to join a "build to rent" scheme funded by developers as investors.
Surely, a greater need is for the Government to create a scheme that provides a "build to buy" scheme.
Owning your own home is the dream of most families, rather than being tied to paying a rent that drains your resources and makes someone else wealthy.
Where are the "build to buy" schemes?
M. Carol Scott, Birkenhead.
Well over it
I had hoped that, after the recent cancellation of the ''cyclist" bridge across the harbour, the vitriol aimed at people who ride bikes would end.
Unfortunately, John Roughan revisits the issue (Weekend Herald, October 23). As a declared "non-cyclist", I suggest he stays out of the debate as the scheme is dead and buried. It would be helpful if the haters could remember that the scheme was aimed at pedestrians, runners, skateboarders, scooter riders, e-scooter riders, perambulators, mobility scooter riders and the occasional cyclist.
It's not happening, get over it.
David Skarratts, Birkenhead.
Please remain seated
The Government wants tougher safety rules for adventure activity operators (Weekend Herald, October 23) after the eruption on White Island in 2019 highlighted the need for a review.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood, in looking at implementing the changes, doesn't need to look further than the public transport system in NZ if he wants to mitigate the risks of people being injured or killed.
From my observation of the buses and trains, I've yet to see seat belts fitted in any in metropolitan areas. One can imagine the potential carnage if a double-decker bus flipped over, or a bus crashing with a load of schoolchildren on an outing.
It's commendable that Mr Woods sees the need to look after tourists when they can tour, but what about the locals?
Geoff Priddy, Royal Oak.
Reading Adrianna Key's letter (Weekend Herald, October 23) about Covid restrictions restricting her ability to get a haircut made me smile. Please Jacinda… give me some hair. Steve Horne, Raglan.
The rest of the world seems to be happy with 70 per cent vaccination rate so why is Jacinda trying to get 90 per cent, which would be a world record? Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki.
The vaccination requirement in the roadmap is unlikely to be achievable in any realistic timeframe. In the meantime, more businesses will go under, their owners lose their livelihoods and homes, and their staff their jobs. Benjamin Chrystall, Albany.
I should have waited and got a reward, like a big percentage of the population. There seems to be no justice in being sensible. Murray Black, Conifer Grove.
Choosing to ignore medical science is not freedom, it is stupidity. Darwin Awards for all anti-vaxxers. C C McDowall, Rotorua.
I'm not sure why we keep getting called a "team" when it appears a large number won't participate without a sum of money being paid to them first. P Folwell, Cambridge.
This Christmas, Aucklanders' holiday snaps will comprise of a hundred or so pictures of QR code posters of various shapes and sizes all coloured in back white and yellow. Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
Fran O'Sullivan rightly repeats her call for the PM to come to Auckland. Why is the PM nowhere to be seen in Auckland? William Black, Remuera.
What happens when the front of the queue stalls as the light turns green? Road rage, perhaps. Glennys Adams, Oneroa.
I don't think the Government knows: Traffic lights sometimes malfunction. Robert Clarke, Albany.
My great-great uncle was a son of Thames: Air Chief Marshall Sir Keith Park. He would be appalled by Sandra Goudie's actions. Get out of the way and let someone lead. Terence Stevens-Prior, London, UK.
Scientific evidence agrees that living in apartments is the worst environment for spreading viruses. I assume both the council and government will only allow single dwellings to be built on sections in the future. David Johnson, Herne Bay.
The best protection for New Zealanders unable to be vaccinated (children under 12 and some immunocompromised adults) is to surround them with vaccinated people. Mike Spratt, Waiheke Island.
A year ago, during the election campaign, Judith Collins was photographed kneeling in prayer. Given her reaction to the effect that lockdown was having on Auckland on businesses, let it be noted that "Judith wept". John Capener, Kawerau.
So, "the CEO could be ousted" if pets "ran offices" (Weekend Herald, October 23). I know of a beautiful cat called Miss Fuzzypants who has been the CEO from the day she arrived at a business run by my family in the Bay Of Plenty. Dawn Yore, Henderson.
Former Act president's lawyer claims sentence was too harsh, calls for home detention.