Letters: Here's to the School Strike 4 Climate protest marchers

Astounded by the snide attack on the 0.2 per cent of Whanganui citizens who attended the School Strike 4 Climate march (Dennis Nitschke, Chronicle, October 9), I congratulate them for their concern and wisdom.

Mr Nitschke demonstrates no knowledge of why he thinks the climate strikers are wrong.
Rather, he demonstrates ignorance on two fronts.

Firstly, let him deny record temperatures and their accompanying heat waves through Europe and Asia this year, record drought in Australia, record tropical storms in the Atlantic, record ice-sheet melt, record wild fires in North America and Australia, record sea temperatures with associated failure of coral reefs, and collapsing aquifers in Western China.

This is just a start, but the student-led marchers will not deny these.

Secondly, I'd suggest he avail himself of the wealth of material on the alternatives to the "cheap and reliable" energy he denies. He might start by considering the examples covered by the Drawdown Group. These are comprehensively addressed in the Penguin edition, Drawdown (2017).

ALAN TAYLOR
Westmere

Clubbing together

I refer to a recently published article in the Whanganui Chronicle detailing the rather dire financial situation Club Metro finds itself in.

Taking into account the balances, assets and liabilities of the RSA and Cosmopolitan Club prior to amalgamation, what were the key indicators that led the committee to the decision: "This merger is a great idea"?

A fool and his money are soon parted.

ROSS NOBLE
Wellington

Lucky to have Graeme

Having read Carol Webb's letter (Chronicle, October 2), I decided to research the background of this [district councillor] Graeme Young in some detail.
Quite a man!

Graeme Young is a professional engineer. This means both the academic and hands-on sense...
He was a shareholder /director of consulting engineering in the prestigious firm Payne Sewell Ltd.

This firm had offices in Whanganui, Palmerston North, Hawera and Waikanae. During his tour of duty, it was one of the largest engineering consultancies, with offices outside the four main centres.

Spanning a career of 40-years plus, he undertook significant engineering projects for many local authorities, private developers and government departments.

Projects undertaken personally by Graeme included design of main sewage interceptors to remove wastewater entering the Whanganui River, redevelopment of Cooks Gardens, upgrade of Victoria Ave, and many State Highway roading projects throughout many parts of the North Island, and a World Bank roading project in Western Samoa.

In the sporting environments, Graeme was chairman of Sport Whanganui and Whanganui Cricket, through one of its most successful periods of Central Districts Cricket.

He was subsequently elected a life member of Whanganui Cricket and Central Districts Cricket.

The only other Whanganui person to be honoured in a similar fashion was Harry Cave.

Pondering all the above, surely Whanganui District Council is honoured by Graeme's presence.

BERNARD J CORKERY
Whanganui

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