Today's Letters to the Editor from readers cover topics including emissions, Benedict Ong and praise for DCC truck driver.
Minister for Magic and his climate card trick
In a revealing interview last year Shane Jones was finally asked to explain the basis of his policy on climate change. He replied that there will be some ‘‘magical’’ solution.
So here we have a senior minister driving climate policy expose the depth of his thinking and the foundation of government policy. Does this underpin the government’s cavalier disregard of our climate liabilities and the inadequacy of our paltry ETS?
The cost of emissions as calculated from the existing escalation in insurance costs and financial damage is over $US1000 per tonne. That is before the latest IPC report of accelerating emissions and climate change.
The inability to deal with economic realities affects policy not only on emissions but on energy, transport and development.
Now pivot to gold mining. Gold is the mineral we need the least.
The vaults of idle gold are mausoleums to the emissions they generated and a testament to humans’ inability to manage their affairs.
It is hard to find any activity as outrageously wasteful as gold mining; digging up a garage full of earth for an ounce of gold. Every ounce of gold mined generates almost a tonne of CO2 emissions. The waste is monumental.
Of course some locals will be intoxicated by the prospect of short-term largesse, just as we as a country will flaunt the crumbs we earn after profits go offshore.
The investment in gold mining will entomb the capital we need to address our pitiful productivity. All that’s gold does not glitter.
Gerrard Liddell
Dunedin
[Abridged - length. Editor.]
Valuable point
In reply to Stan Randle (20.3.26), I do not question that gold is not valuable, nor are diamonds or pearls. But that is in monetary terms.
My point (13.3.26) is that there are other values, like landscape and clean water, although we don’t usually express those in monetary terms.
We should instead ask if the use of gold for itself, not for decoration or as an investment, is worth the other values that are degraded by the process of its extraction. Lithium, as a critical mineral for the energy transition, is much more valuable than gold for its uses.
Jock Churchman
South Australia
Woolly thinking
Nic Rawlence, Kane Fleury and Mania Pearmain-Fenton (Opinion ODT 20.3.26) were thought-provoking.
Many would agree that conservation of threatened plants and animals is not easy and that blaming one another is not justified or productive.
However if those involved confined their actions and decisions to matters of fact, science-based knowledge, the way forward would be simpler and more successful.
It is not a knotty problem, the writers’ attitude is simply too woolly.
Chris John Hewitt
Dunedin
Healthy living
Nicole McKee’s article (Opinion ODT 24.3.26) highlighted the estimated cost ($9.1 billion) of alcohol-related harm.
She points out that breaking the cost down, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) accounts for $4.8b of this estimate. The answer to the cost of FASD is maybe the government subsidising non-alcoholic beverages for pregnant ladies and advertising the importance of keeping alcohol and drug-free.
All folk in social settings be encouraged to support pregnant women to live healthy lives for the health of our future generations.
Maurice and Beverley Mulligan
Oamaru
Council emperor is bereft of splendid clothing
Benedict Ong is having the time of his life. He is (in)famous and lapping up every moment of the media attention that he believes he deserves as “His Royal Oneness”.
He’s in the news constantly thanks to his antics and truly believes he is the “one ring” we need to rule us all. Therefore, he’ll probably love this letter as well.
My question is, if he was so marvellous as a banker, was so exalted in financial circles, then what is he doing in a little backwater like Dunedin earning a pittance in comparison with what he could notionally earn in places like Singapore?
He also seems to believe, delusionally, that most of the ratepayers agree with his assessment of his self-worth. This sort of obsessive self-love is proliferating. Scarily, the world feels like we are in the middle of a looped re-run of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” in which the alien clones are all sociopathic narcissists.
We don’t have to look far for examples of this internationally.
I rather think Mr Ong did a good job of fooling a lot of people with the “hype” of his election pitch and therein lies the rub, because eventually even the emperor had to admit he had no clothes on.
Pat Duffy
Opoho
Frequent delays rile commuter
Since last year’s route and roster changes, the Orbus service has become increasingly unreliable. As a daily commuter, I regularly mark “zero trust” on the Transit app due to delays.
Most weeks, buses are late four out of five days, often by more than five minutes. At times, multiple buses arrive together, leaving one overcrowded and another nearly empty. This is especially frustrating when waiting passengers from earlier services are still at the stop.
Despite repeated emails, the response remains that delays are “beyond drivers’ control”. Yet many morning services start from the Mosgiel yard and my stop is the Terminus (first stop), and it seems to be same drivers being late, making consistent lateness difficult to understand.
Public transport is essential, especially with parking challenges. Reliable service is not a luxury - it’s a necessity for working commuters.
Irene Knoetze
Dunedin
Driver applauded
We were having lunch outside at the St Clair salt water pool cafe. It was busy, so we sat at the last table beside the rubbish bins. The DCC rubbish truck reversed up carefully and the driver emptied the first two bins into the truck using the vehicle’s buttons to work the mechanical arms.
Our grandson was enthralled with the process, so his father picked him up and took him a little closer to watch the next two bins being loaded. As the driver positioned the final two bins to be emptied into the truck, he turned to our grandson and asked if he would like to work the buttons.
With the widest smile in the world, our grandson then pushed the buttons and emptied the last two bins into the truck. I clapped him as he ran back to us in excitement.
Like a scene from a feelgood movie, all the other people seated outside spontaneously joined into the applause. Of course, they were not just clapping our grandson, but applauding the random act of kindness by the DCC rubbish truck driver in simply making a small boy’s day. The world is good.
Ngaire and Steve Young
Dunedin
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: letters@odt.co.nz
