The late Ed Boyd . . . a man of great generosity.
Belatedly, I wish to join those who have already expressed their sadness at the loss to the community through the death of Ed Boyd.
I knew Ed from our days together in Rotary. I remember him as a soft-spoken man of great generosity. For any worthy cause he was always ready to give assistance, whether financial or hands-on.
He carried himself with quiet dignity, accented with smiling good humour. I regret that I never made it a point to get to know him on a more personal level, to just hang out together, as I have been lucky to do with others here that I've respected for their character.
I know that Hinemoa and his family will miss him greatly, and for that I can only offer my condolences.
JAY KUTEN
Whanganui
Farmers being strangled
Harete Hipango is very wise and thoughtful (Chronicle, October 4).
Typical Helen Clark policy is not to ban something outright, but to strangle it and bankrupt it with compliance costs, resource consents, iwi consultation, health and safety, permits, inspections, reports, arbitrary and ever-changing demands.
This is being done to our farmers.
Not all rivers and ponds were swimmable by modern standards. By all means reduce pollution, but do not demand standards higher than occur in nature.
Demands that Canterbury farmers pay to clean Lake Ellesmere are impossible. Lake Ellesmere always has been a warm, stagnant lake, polluted by millions of birds, and teeming with life.
I have seen Fish and Game maps covered in skull and crossbones. When farmers ask for details so that they can find and clean streams, there is no reply. The maps are fake.
We achieve nothing good by killing our cows, while countless millions of wild reindeer in Russia, and wildebeest, giraffes and gnu in Africa, continue to burp and fart greenhouse gases.
We achieve nothing good by abandoning our hard-won markets to countries that produce many times more pollution and gases per carrot, cow or sheep than we do.
ALAN DAVIDSON
Gonville
Consumers wising up
I was disappointed to read our elected MP's inflammatory opinion piece aimed at Labour's environmental proposal and their so-called "jabs" at farmers.
As a country, we have high rates of P and N leaching into our streams, in most part caused by the constant application of plant-available fertiliser, which, over the years, has destroyed the soil food web that is the major component in carbon and nutrient cycling.
Instead of allowing some government representatives and other outside influences to create a division between industry and consumers for their own gain, we should, as a nation, be looking at what many other countries are doing in regard to removing some ag chem companies (who are uncomfortably close to MPI) and their products from industry and educating the sector and ourselves on regenerative agricultural practices so that our soil will not just be a dead medium, leaching 95 per cent of the phosphorus directly into our waterways.
Yes, we do need to make money to spend money, but as consumers become more aware and decide to spend their money supporting businesses that have a genuine desire to produce quality while carrying out restorative practices, opinion pieces like this and industry heads' refusal to change the status quo are going to cause the most long-term damage to farmers livelihoods.
BRAD PENN
Whanganui
Well done, Whanganui
Congratulations to the 99.8 per cent of Whanganui residents who, despite a constant barrage of media campaigns, did not attend the climate march held last Friday, pushing what has almost become a modern doomsday cult.
Well done for noticing that many of the predictions and "tipping points" of the past 30 years have not happened.You can only cry wolf a limited number of times before people start to ask questions, or take very little notice.
Perhaps the wolves in this story are those who would demand that we abandon the cheap and reliable energy that has lifted and continues to lift millions of people out of desperate poverty around the world every year, when we have no viable alternatives.
DENNIS NITSCHKE
Marton
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