SAVING OUR SKINS
Richard McKenzie
Tophouse Ltd
REVIEWED BY PETER GOODWIN
Straight-shooting physicist Richard McKenzie has written of his professional and family life over the past four decades in a small-town Otago community.
Dr McKenzie has a keen eye for the stark landscape and the people he lives amongst and plays golf with. The pristine skies above the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Lauder provide the opportunity “to understand the causes and effects of ozone depletion”. His work led to findings that helped ensure the success of the Montreal Protocol banning ozone-depleting CFCs and ultimately restoring the ozone layer, a good-news story of international co-operation.
A stint at Oxford University had introduced Dr McKenzie to scientists at the cutting edge of satellite atmospheric measurement, and revelations about the effects of CFCs on the ozone layer. If we could not fix the hole in the Earth’s outer atmosphere, he writes, we faced a grim price to be paid through damage to our own skin.
Saving our Skins is richly furnished with photos – including a frightening one of the effect of sun on his own face during treatment - and graphs. And check out his standard-three school report from Darfield as presaging the character of the man.
There is much science plainly put, for the author is a compelling communicator of facts. He explains contraptions adapted with a sort of Kiwi ingenuity for measuring ultra-violet rays in the early days of computer development. He does not mince words over the culpability of manufacturers of CFCs, widely used in aerosols and refrigeration. He names “merchants of doubt”, those who whitewash in the interests of commerce and the fossil fuel industry, including scientists in our own country peddling misinformation on the human impact on climate. Donald Trump, volcanic ash and Covid-19 all have parts to play in this lively and enlightening account.
The book is also a portrait of a family, and the chapter dealing with the death of his middle son at the age of 14 on a school sports field is harrowing.
Peter Goodwin is a former ODT subeditor
