Letters: Council is working on climate change strategy

At what population level will laid-back, friendly Whanganui cease to be a lovely place to live?

Dave Hill (Letters, 12 February) notes that I opined in this journal that we were "all going to die" as a result of climate change. When interviewed by journalist Laurel Stowell I had added "if we don't do anything about this".

The discussion had been erratic via cell phone when travelling through several black spots and redials. The comic irony is that there were five councillors travelling at the time in councillor Hadleigh Reid's electric vehicle to Palmerston North for councillor training. No responsibility can be sheeted to Ms Stowell for what she did not hear.

Of more important substance is the rest of Mr Hill's letter. It clearly demonstrates he has failed to keep abreast of council activity locally and the understanding of climate change globally.

Mr Hill asks if I can explain "in detail" what impact council's decisions on climate change will have on the citizens of Whanganui? Council, late last year, engaged with the public on the development of its Climate Change Strategy.

An action plan will follow. Considerable effort has been made to communicate this process to the public, clearly stating that we are in the early stages of this. No decisions have been made, no specific actions decided upon. These complex activities need to be well measured and efficiently delivered. Council will not manage this critical and evolving process lightly.

Had Mr Hill followed the debate, he would understand that declaration of a climate emergency, per se, adds no actual cost to anyone. It serves to bolster our raison d'etre for doing and adding gravity to this work. He needs to be patient.

Mr Hill takes the effort to state he is not a climate denier, yet he exhibits all the hallmarks of one. He makes claims that hysteria and ideology surround climate change and that, somehow, calls for action are as dogmatic and authoritarian as religious indoctrination (any more hyperbolic descriptors, Mr Hill?). Such context is an insult to science and theology alike.

Further, he then wishes to continue to question anthropogenic global heating. This debate is now old hat. He should update and inform himself on the science.

In a final note, he devalues the importance of all this, suggesting that my energies at council would be better spent on kerbside recycling. Council has a Waste Action Group ably led by councillor Vinsen considering that difficult subject. If Mr Hill can offer constructive suggestions on kerbside recycling, we'd welcome them.

ALAN TAYLOR
Whanganui District Councillor

Joan and Greta

Most teens go through a phase of idealism and fanaticism that is not backed by facts or tempered by the consideration of consequences.

This newspaper has recently published fulsome letters about Joan of Arc and Greta Thunberg. All these letters definitively prove that it is very dangerous to deify screeching schoolgirls.

ROBIN PEIRCE
Marton

Who needs growth?

I so support P.Rogers' sentiment (Letters, February 12).

My family has lived in Whanganui for more than a century, and over the years we have seen quite a number of out-of-town over-achievers wanting to "develop" our city.

We have seen such proposals as a jet airport and a coal-fired power station narrowly avoided. Imagine the pollution that would have brought. Fortunately, kaumatua with great influence also brought a halt to plans to dam the Whanganui River at Atene.

Many of us treasure Whanganui for its laid-back, friendly and, in most cases, affordable lifestyle. Those that seek "economic growth" above all else maybe cannot see and don't want to shoulder the responsibility of damaging this unique place to live.

Chasing more population brings with it traffic congestion, housing shortage, unaffordable rents, struggling health services, the need for foodbanks. It stops being a lovely place to live and joins the rest of those places where people battle for survival.

JOHN NEWTON
St John's Hill

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