Growth or bust - not much of a plan

REAR VISION: The plans for Studholme are like putting the population of New Zealand onto the Canterbury Plains without a sewage system says Rosemary Penwarden.

What do New Zealand's dominant agricultural model and my Dad's driving have in common?

Fonterra was recently given the go-ahead to add a huge new boiler to its milk plant at Studholme, near Waimate in the South Island, a boiler that will burn 30 tonnes of coal per hour, and I thought of my Dad.

When I was a kid we occasionally drove from Wanganui to Lower Hutt to visit cousins. It wasn't easy getting Dad away from the cows, but when he was finally off the farm and behind the wheel it was Lower Hutt or Bust. Even a toilet stop required dire ultimatums to slow him down.

With Mum behind the wheel things were different. She kept an eye on the big picture, including what was going on in the back seat. More often than not that meant stops at every fruit stand, regular side-of-the-road picnics and occasionally, much to Dad's chagrin, detours to a stream for a quick dip.
Regular release of seven kids from a hot stuffy car was a smart move. Mum's final detour involved a drive up Haywards Hill right on dusk, to behold the wondrous lights of Wellington.

Dad's unwillingness to veer off the main road reminds me of our current dominant agricultural economic model, stuck on a familiar road with no apparent willingness to assess the big picture.

Fonterra's Studholme expansion, for example, allows them to burn coal for 35 more years, beyond the time climate scientists tell us the world has to stop burning all oil and gas, let alone coal, the worst polluter of all.

We should have seen the big picture way back down the road, but here we are in 2016 approving a plan to plonk another 270,000 cows into South Canterbury. That's like putting the population of New Zealand onto the Canterbury Plains without a sewage system (one cow produces 15 times more poo than a human).

The big picture goes something like this: scientists doubling predictions of sea level rise this century; worldwide heat records broken for 13 months in a row; heat waves again killing hundreds in South Asia; wildfires again ravaging Western USA; and carbon dioxide levels reaching 400 ppm in Antarctica.

Closer to home the Royal Society of New Zealand's recent report warns that by 2050 sea level rise will likely turn a hundred year storm surge into an almost yearly event, flooding coastal towns like Whanganui.

Like Dad, the Commissioners stuck to The Plan: Growth or Bust. They ignored the big picture - and the kids in the back seat. What about some fresh air? What about a clean stream to wade in? What about their future?

The Commissioners, like all local and national decision makers, have got to start acting more like Mum if we're to have a hope of ensuring those kids' future.
Mum was really in charge, even when Dad got to drive. The Commissioners think they're in the driver's seat but they are not paying attention. Mother Earth is really in charge.

Despite his driving I will always remember Dad with great love and fondness. I doubt that future generations will feel the same about those in the driver's seat today.
*Rosemary Penwarden grew up on a small dairy farm in Brunswick, near Whanganui, and now lives in Dunedin