Letters: Which politician would cast the first stone over misuse of funds?

The global scientific consensus is that most coral reefs would perish at warming of 1.5C above preindustrial levels - a threshold just years away. Photo / Gabriel Barathieu, AFP

Politicians kicking Te Pāti Māori when it’s down

I find it hypocritical for all the political parties jumping on the bandwagon and criticising Te Pāti Māori for misuse of funds.

There is an old saying that “people in glasshouses shouldn’t throw stones“, or another one from the Bible, ”let you who is without guilt cast the first stone".

I imagine it wouldn’t take much digging to find misuse of funds in other parties and government services.

I think this is a classic case of kicking a man when he is down.

Please note, I am not a supporter of Te Pāti Māori. I just hate hypocrisy.

Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki.

Food vs fuel

New Zealand exports food to help fuel the bodies of humans all around the world but we have to import fuel for our vehicles.

Opec countries export oil to help fuel the cars of the world but the majority of them are net food importers.

Food production produces global-warming gases at the point of origin. Fossil fuels produce global-warming gases at the point of consumption. This inconvenient fact makes us the bad guys on both counts, and in terms of emissions, Opec countries are among the good guys. That strikes me as somewhat ironic.

New Zealand has been under sustained pressure to cut back both food production to reduce methane emissions and fossil fuel use to reduce CO2 emissions.

Feeding the population of the planet is arguably far more important than fueling our cars. Food production is not some frivolous or gratuitous activity that the world can opt into or out of. Food has to be produced somewhere and New Zealand farming is world-leading in efficiency and minimisation of production of greenhouse gases. Cutting back our food production will just shift the problem somewhere else and increase overall emissions while doing significant damage to the New Zealand economy .

I strongly believe the Government was right to ease our methane targets to support our food production industry, and the arguments I have seen against this fail to take the full global picture into consideration.

John Christiansen, Mt Albert.

Ignoring the science

It’s hard to understand the thinking of politicians within this coalition Government ignoring the science around the need to act quickly on measures to survive our changing climate. In doing so, they are allowing further destruction and tragedies ahead, putting the health and wellbeing of people at risk and leaving our young dumbfounded and disorientated. How can they do that? How can they ignore so blatantly what is happening now, while knowing it will worsen with greater intensity?

The sea rises inundating coastal land, the droughts, floods and storms that will bring the country to a halt are not predictions now, but set to worsen. Farmers will lose stock and land mass will become unusable, and we will be wondering why it was such a big deal to win their cause over methane, a potent climate warmer.

So, where is our Minister of Climate Change, Simon Watt? Doing what he does very well, obeying his bosses and looking out over people’s heads to a spot on the wall at the back. That way, he doesn’t see the horror on the faces in front of him.

Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.

Dangers of vaping

As another former director of ASH (Action on Smoking and Health), I agree with every word written in the letter by Janie Weir, ex-ASH director, about this Government’s failure to take meaningful steps to address the harm caused by vaping, particularly on our young people (Oct 14).

It is a delusion that vaping offers a useful and genuine option to smoking cigarettes. It encourages starting, not quitting smoking. One has to question the motive.

Lynn John, Ōrewa.

What we stand to lose

The fantastic photo of a healthy coral reef in the Herald’s world pages (Oct 14) shows us what we and the fish will be losing if we don’t take urgent measures to stop anthropogenic climate change. We need another photo showing the effects of coral bleaching that is becoming widespread, according to the scientists in this latest report.

With 80% of coral reefs affected by bleaching, we are heading towards irreversible tipping points. It’s time for everybody, and particularly our scientists, to demand our politicians take the action that, although essential, will be very unpopular!

Perhaps a role for the United Nations would be to set CO2 reduction goals that must be met or fines will ensue as shaming does not seem to have any effect on all nations!

New Zealand could take a leadership role and pass a resolution to this effect in the general assembly. If the political will was there, it’s up to us to pressure our politicians.

Dennis Worley, Birkenhead.