Letters: We can’t manage climate change, we must adapt to it; problem gamblers need to see the light

'It appears unlikely that human actions will be able to manage the sun or continual climate changes.'

Letters to the Editor

Adapt to climate change, don’t manage it

Jamie Morton explains the key figures behind our climate reality (Mar 20). Climate scientists and advocates detail the numbers of Earth’s relatively recently observed climate changes.

Earth’s climate has been changing since inception 4.7 billion years ago, variously not supporting life and then supporting a changing group of living organisms. The constant in this journey has been adaptation and change.

A substantial 36% of the world’s population still disputes the human origins of climate change. Larger countries and populations have no desire to mitigate climate change. Global population has surpassed eight billion, threatening food security, freshwater supply and human health. The effects of climate change, including sea level rise, droughts, floods, and extreme weather, will be more severe.

It appears unlikely that human actions will be able to manage the sun or continual climate changes. If we look back to Earth’s history, wouldn’t we be better off making efforts to adapt to these climate changes instead of believing we can manage them?

Gary Carter, Gulf Harbour.

Seeing the light

So pokie bar operators have trouble policing limits on patrons withdrawing cash from ATMs within their premises (Mar 19). It would be best to remove the ATMs altogether.

Pokie venues are deliberately designed for sensory deprivation, typically being dimly lit, with no windows to the outside world, no wall clocks, and continuous thrusting “music”. So gamblers are encouraged to become focused on the “one-arm bandit” in front of them, oblivious to the passage of time.

Having spent as much money as they have, they then want more cash to continue feeding the machines. If there was no handy ATM close by, they would be forced to step outside into the street for a while, giving them a chance to realise how much money they have already lost before deciding whether to call it quits or seek out a money machine to withdraw more cash and return to continue betting.

Graeme Easte, Mount Albert.

Second coming

David Seymour is the gift that just keeps on giving (Mar 19). While the Prime Minister is diligently working on an FTA with India, and Winston Peters is walking a diplomatic tightrope in the US, their coalition partner has decided he wasn’t getting his fair share of media attention so called on God to address the imbalance by supporting Act and their entry into local body politics.

God, even given his/her omnipotent status, may have difficulty comparing Christ’s second coming to Act’s endorsement of potential mayoral candidates and is wondering if the lesson of man’s vanity needs to be taught again.

However, God did get the joke and when the laughter died down, God strongly recommended that Seymour treat hungry school children with dignity and compassion by feeding them adequately and desist in his rhetoric regarding Māori.

As God is a little busy elsewhere (Gaza, Ukraine), Seymour was left with one final gift from the Almighty. A quote from Philippians 2:3: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, in humility consider others better than yourselves.”

Mary Hearn, Glendowie.

Harbouring doubt

I’m confused as to the Government’s intentions regarding a new Auckland harbour crossing and Chris Bishop’s statement (Mar 15) that “soon there’d be a barge in the harbour”, checking the feasibility of a tunnel versus a bridge. And just watch the consultants lining up to make this killing.

Mayor Wayne Brown has already indicated a preference for using Meola Reef as the basis of a low rise, cost-effective crossing and it makes sense to move traffic away from current bottlenecks, north and south. As for tunnelling, drilling through volcanic rock (eg basalt) would be susceptible to seismic risk, flooding and Auckland’s other specialties - gross time and cost overruns.

David Howard, Pakuranga.

Blame game

It seemed a bit rich for correspondent Ian McGregor (Mar 19) to criticise Labour for attributing job losses to current strategies and not their past policies, when the current Government has been doing exactly that for the whole time they have been in office. The blame game - it’s always easy to criticise but not so easy to come up with solutions, and that applies to both sides.

Hamish Walsh, Devonport.

Ferry priority

Can someone please explain why $4 billion is being sought from public-private partnerships for 24km of a so-called Road of National Significance in Northland. The same money could be sought for the Cook Strait ferries which would service the whole country - a far more important investment in my opinion.

Bob Marks, Te Aroha.

Hospice value

Tina McCafferty’s piece highlights the vital role hospices play for the terminally ill and dying (Mar 17). I am so grateful for the involvement my mother had with North Shore hospice once diagnosed with terminal cancer. The support, compassion and care in her last two years were second to none. We were so thankful her final week was in hospice and not the local hospital. We must not lose this valuable service.

Fiona McAllister, Mount Maunganui.