IT'S BEEN a hell of a fortnight here on Anzac Pde. My old house sits high at the back of the section, above the floodline - at least this time. It's a horribly vivid vantage point for witnessing the devastation of my neighbours' more low-lying houses.
There is a lot I'm glad of. I'm glad nobody died in this record flood. I'm glad of our local Fire Service: they've been capable, calm and kind. I'm glad of the emergency personnel and volunteers who travelled from around the region and even Christchurch and Dunedin to help us. I'm glad to live in a community that rallies when people are suffering; I'll not forget the stranger who walked through my gate, boots on, shovel in hand and asked simply, "How can I help?". Thank you.
I'm not glad of John Key coming to visit, mouthing platitudes and hedging about how much money central government might contribute to the cost of clean-up. I would have been outside the Civil Defence centre when our Prime Minister arrived on his PR visit, except on that Saturday I was picking through the apocalyptic mess that was my food gardens.
I would have held a sign that read: Dear Mr Key: this is what climate change looks like.
There's considered scientific opinion that global warming is driving the increasingly extreme weather events being experienced in New Zealand and around the world: record-breaking heatwaves, droughts and floods, more frequent storms and hurricanes. In the cautious speech of scientists, "The evidence from multiple studies ... indicates that human influence has changed the frequency of high-impact temperature and precipitation extremes." (Stott et al, 2014, page S1: http://bit.ly/1Hx5wkp).
