Wind event not work of Mother Nature’s fan
You are to be commended for your treatment of the events of 22.10.25, especially the pictorial content. The effects will be with them for a long time.
Sadly, the cartoon you chose — Mother Nature with a hand on a fan — detracted from your efforts.
So long as we look at our changing climate as the work of Mother Nature, we will distract ourselves from a developing catastrophe which is entirely of our own making.
Thankfully you got back on script on page 6 by introducing Earth Sciences meteorologist Chris Brandolino, who said that these weather patterns could be traced back to what was happening in Antarctica in September, when the top of the atmosphere got very warm.
Earlier reports had connected inordinately hot temperatures — stifling — in the northern hemisphere summer having been carried south by wind and water and thus upsetting the normal chain of events in Antarctica.
Mother Nature in all these systems is just a conveyer belt, delivering climate worldwide, initially in preindustrial times, unaffected by human hand, but now our atmosphere choked up with greenhouse gases.
To use the words of the learned scientist above with respect to the unseasonable heat in Antarctica in September, "Because of that, there were flow-on effects ... that polar vortex weakened and became wobbly and oblong-shaped."
Fortunately, as lay readers we don’t need to understand the jargon, just to know and care that heated air trapped in the atmosphere is a prelude to disaster.
Cash is king
In reference to the article (ODT 25.10.25) headed "Te Anau: stranded tourists walking around like ‘zombies’."
The article mentions nearly all the town cafes were closed but the local dairy was still able to cook hot meals on gas and was able to accept cash.
This shows that in times of power going down, you are unable to access your account, just like after the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes, so of necessity there must always be cash in circulation, in spite of the banks wanting to do away with cash.
One should always have a small amount of cash, on hand, especially when the Australian and Pacific plates finally decide to cause havoc.
Questionable sincerity
Thank you very much Dave Tackney for your informative letter (ODT 24.10.25) offering some unconsidered revelations around the teaching sector.
Who knew that the primary motivation for teachers and people in the health sector is money? Looking at this unprecedented strike, thanks to your insight, it is plainly a left-wing socialist ploy aimed solely to undermine and replace the government. I now see that teachers are simply money hungry, greedy lefties who think nothing of the care or education of their pupils.
Add it up
Ivan McPhail’s letter (21.10.25) is wildly inaccurate about how many first-choice votes Andrew Simms received in the mayoral election.
Simms received 11,377 out of 42,462 first-choice votes, or 26.8%. A mayor was not elected until the 15th iteration, when Sophie Barker finally broke over the quota of 50% + 0.000000001 votes. (The 0.000000001 is included to make the quota an absolute majority.)
If Simms had received 60% of first-choice votes, he would under the STV system have been over the quota and elected mayor at the first iteration.
By contrast under FPP, a mayor could be elected who receives only 25% of the votes, if the remaining 75% of the votes are split among other candidates.
No need for hysteria but need for better tree care
As an arborist, I was tempted to tell my good wife to order the new kitchen after reading Andrew Smillie's letter "Time to consider height restrictions for tall timber" (ODT 25.10.25).
However, let's not get hysterical.
It is important to note that literally millions of trees did not blow over during the recent storms.
It could also be argued that it was the ground that failed in Anzac Ave rather than the trees.
Sadly the Dunedin City Council has for decades gradually reduced budgets and scope for tree maintenance in relation to inflation and tree growth and has totally ignored the issue of its veteran tree inventory and how to best apply modern arboricultural practices to ensure a safe, thriving urban forest.
Trees in the urban environment provide a huge number of benefits — social, financial, environmental and aesthetic.
Dunedin was once the epicentre of modern tree care.
Perhaps it is time to readjust our priorities.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: letters@odt.co.nz
