Plus Caption Competition, Quips & Quotes, Life in NZ and 10 Quick Questions

There are no “simple” solutions to global warming or pollution (“Red dawn”, January 25). The answers we have should have been initiated 30-plus years ago. But crisis or not, our response needs to be practical and realistic.

First, we need population control. Without that, whatever we do will be obliterated by increasing demand for fossil-based fuels and mounting waste. But I cannot begin to imagine the response if a doctor, for instance, suggested to someone that they should have fewer children.

Second, air travel is a major emitter of carbon dioxide, but telling any Antipodean not to fly – either for business or pleasure – would be preposterous, although it might be fine if you live in Europe, North America or China, where most aviation fuel is used and there are alternative means of travel. But you cannot put the genie back in the bottle, so, for us, priority must be given to finding an alternative fuel for air travel, which might take decades.

A similar time frame could be required for switching to electric- or hydrogen-powered cars, which are at present unaffordable. Energy companies will produce fossil fuels while there is consumer demand, so we are the problem rather than them.

As for trees consuming CO , they are burning up everywhere. And what about the bans on unrecyclable plastics and other goods in a world that simply throws everything away? Our recycling industry remains a joke.

Without changing attitudes, we will fail. Maybe propaganda will drive us there in the end – I am not against that – but this, even with Australia burning, will take many decades. Let us keep our heads and work towards perpetual change. In the end, nature will somehow win whatever we do. Philip Harrison (Wellington)

The cover story implies that Australia’s fires are a result of climate change and that the country’s coal and gas exports, and Prime Minister Scott Morrison, are at least partly to blame. Nowhere is it suggested that such factors as forest management practices may have played a role.

It was recognised years ago in California that natural forest fires in cooler weather reduced the amount of litter and dead wood (fuel) on the ground and prevented much larger fires from occurring. When this process was interfered with, uncontrollable, catastrophic fires occurred. Prescribed burning has been carried out for years in Australia to reduce fire risk. Data from Western Australia over 50 years has shown a strong negative correlation between the area of prescribed burning and the incidence of forest fires.

Even if “climate change” plays a role in the fires, there is little Australia can do about it. China and India are building hundreds of coal-fired power stations, the US, Russia and

Brazil show little interest in the subject and African leaders say their countries’ development depends on fossil fuels.

Megafires can only occur when three things are present: an ignition source, severe fire weather and a large contiguous accumulation of fuel. Remove any of these three and you cannot have a megafire. The only one that can be controlled is fuel accumulation. Andrew Logan (Mt Victoria, Wellington)

Wildfires in Australia, California, the Amazon, Siberia and Indonesia had a huge impact on the environment last year, with the economic effects yet to come. A huge proportion of the Australian economy, for example, comes from coal exports. Stopping that, or even reducing it, is like asking our dairy industry to take similar action. It won’t happen. Michael Dally (Levin)

I’ve always been unsure why Australia is called the lucky country, but now I know. At the rate it’s burning, it will be lucky to still be habitable this time next year! Andre Kneepkens (Upper Hutt)

WHEN HARRY MET MEGHAN

What Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have done ( Editorial, January 25) is give a powerful message of hope to anyone caught in a bad personal or work relationship.

They have shown that it is important to get out of a

stressful and damaging situation as soon as you can and that you have the right to say “enough” no matter what promises you have made. Stephanie Parkes (Mt Eden, Auckland)

TRUMP IMPEACHMENT

The Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, John Roberts, administered the oath to 100 senators of the Donald Trump impeachment jury (“Defending the indefensible”, January 25), who swore to apply the law impartially. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.

The right sees Trump as appointed by God to lead the American people, therefore he is unimpeachable. The left see him as the devil incarnate. The subject himself insists it’s all a hoax and infamously said, with justification, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”

The law will be applied along party lines; forget about the oath and impartiality. That any Republican juror would vote for impeachment would be the kiss of death to their political career.

Democrat and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was loath to go down this path. Her instincts were correct. This trial will go down

in history as one of the most bizarre events in legal history and will bring credit to no one.

Tony Goodwin (Pt Chevalier, Auckland)

“Trumpty Dumpty sat on a wall’’, as the nursery rhyme goes (sort of). I can’t wait for the bit about all the king’s horses and all the king’s men.

Unfortunately, all the king’s men now comprise a spineless Republican guard happy to see democracy Trumpled underfoot. Dean Donoghue (Papamoa Beach)

WAVING A FLAG FOR SIMPLICITY

Many people agree changing to a simple and effective flag like those of Canada and Japan is the way to go ( Letters, January 18 and 25). Several have suggested two colours and one symbol.

The silver fern, being unique to New Zealand – unlike the

Southern Cross – is the obvious choice as a symbol. But on what background colour?

Not black, please. It’s overwhelming, implies darkness and death, and at a distance or in wind would look like the skull and crossbones. Besides, we’re a country, not just a rugby team. A silver fern against a background of green, which I favour, or blue would be attractive.

Change will only happen if the two major political parties can agree on a suitable choice, ideally with the backing of at least one minor party. They should then “just do it”. Colin Bourke (Waiheke Island)

Enough already. The ideal design is obvious: a well-drawn silver fern on a Pacific blue background the same as the current flag.

Black is for sports teams, not the whole country. And the union flag quarter has become irrelevant. If Harry and Meghan can leave the UK, so can we. Let’s do it. Philip Temple (Dunedin) LETTER OF THE WEEK

Has everyone forgotten? Kyle Lockwood’s design garnered so many votes it would have won the flag competition by a handsome margin – except that it was offered in two versions, one with red (pictured above right) and one with black.

Needless to say, all those New Zealanders with their psychologically unhealthy obsession with black ensured that the vote was split and the competition lost.

Black is for funerals and depression. The thought of a black national flag turns my stomach. Digby Scorgie (Kaiapoi )

Any new flag must be designed by professionals and selected by an expert group. This group should be convened by a rigorous process and then handed

full responsibility to get on with the end result. Lindsay Spilman (Parnell, Auckland)

In the last flag referendum, I voted to retain the existing ensign because I did not want to see a poor design replaced by a worse one. The process of obtaining new designs was cursed by amateurism. A national flag deserves a professional approach.

Imagine what the outcome could have been with a $100,000 incentive for shortlisted entries and $1,000,000 for the winning design. Such sums would attract international professional designers.

I agree with the Listener that the best symbol is the silver fern. The kiwi is endearing, but would run the risk that our country might become known as McZealand. Bob Browning (Kaikohe)

We don’t need another flag debate. It has already been decided by all Kiwi travellers who wear the silver fern on their backpacks.

All we need to do is choose the background colour. Black is a bit dismal and too associated with sport. Green is the obvious choice. We already market New Zealand as “clean and green”. The clean may be a bit dubious at times, but we’re certainly green.

So, there we are: a silver fern on a green background … done and dusted. Judith Doyle (Oriental Bay, Wellington)

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

We might look back at 2020 as “referendum year”. There are two of them and there’s more to these than, “Do you like this flag?”

The end-of-life choice and cannabis decriminalisation proposals are complex, though not complicated. So, it is incumbent on the Government to explain them clearly to voters, and it has already made a start, with easy-read online information on both at referendum. govt.nz. A summary of each is followed by links to the respective full texts.

They have differences.

The cannabis legislation is a first draft, with a final draft due early this year. Even if a majority vote “yes” in the referendum, the incoming government will have to pass the bill through Parliament.

The End of Life Choice Act, however, is a completed piece of legislation and cannot now be amended. What we see is exactly what we will get if we vote it into force. This

referendum is binding; a “yes” vote will mean assisted dying will become available to eligible patients 12 months after the referendum. A “no” vote will see it fall away. Ann David (Waikanae)

I love the variety of The

Good Life, but the January 18 instalment epitomised for me the hypocrisy of society. The family lamb can be “put down” because he had untreatable arthritis, but if my spinal painkillers stop working, I could hang around in agony until I die.

That, and other things I suffer from, might not kill me, but opponents of end-of-life choice, having removed the “unbearable physical and mental suffering” section from the law that will be the subject of a referendum this election, could doom me to suffer purgatory before and after death.

Jimmy the lamb’s funeral reminded me of Asiatic ones, with goodies accompanying him into the afterlife. He was a “giver of joy”. If only we could end our lives when appropriate, having given only joy in the lead-up. David Speary (Northcote, Auckland)

DRIVER TANTIES

Road rage is better called traffic tantrum, because that is what it is ( Psychology, January 25). If we give it a technical name such as Intermittent Explosive Disorder, the individual implicitly becomes a patient in need of treatment instead of a selfish, emotionally lazy individual who deserves censure, not compassion, for his or her childish behaviour.

People saying, as I have heard, “I have road rage”, just as they might say, “I have hypertension [or leprosy, or psoriasis, or ADHD]” is really saying, “I am a patient

deserving treatment, a victim to be pitied and I am not responsible for my actions.”

Psychologists may have their own reasons for dignifying this oafishness with a threeword label, but humanity is not served by it. The victims are not those who exhibit this behaviour, but those who are the objects of it.

The “treatment” is self-control. R Porteous (Auckland)

SMOKING’S BOTTOM LINE

In reply to Paul Baber ( Letters, January 11), let me say my wife, Suzie, died a painful death in November 2017, despite the best efforts of medical staff.

Her chest, neck and the top of her head had visible tumours, and those were just the ones we could see. She died of cancer as a result of 50 years of smoking and her death haunts me every day. I do not believe smokers should have any rights. At the very least, smoking should be banned in cars and public places. John Allum (Thames)

THE STUFF OF DREAMS

The recent research into the “science of sleep” ( Psychology, January 4) made interesting reading, and also served to demonstrate the growing gap between the more esoteric aspects of sleep as a mystery and the scientific approach.

Two of the early psychological thinkers who concerned themselves with dreams were Freud, who saw them as the guardian of sleep and allowing access to the mind’s unconscious activities, and Jung, who perceived them as an integral aspect of the process of individuation – becoming yourself.

From the perspective of tangata whenua, te ao o ngā moemoeā – the world of dreams – is one that our wairua (soul) accesses as we sleep and is a realm of metaphor and allegory, although as Freud also noted, “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”.

These concepts cannot be demonstrated with lab rats or clinical trials and so have fallen into disuse in psychology, which submerges and ignores the indigenous approach to dreams and their part in personal growth and healing. W Hansen (Tauranga)