Slowing climate change is the best we can hope for

IT is disappointing some readers have misinterpreted Peter Foster’s letter (ODT, 16.10.18) as being dismissive of climate change.

Quite the contrary. All he is saying is that climate change is such a complex problem that scientists simply cannot predict how the climate will change in the future.

The dynamics of our planet Earth are exceedingly complex and what scientists have observed is that not only have there been many ice ages and warmer glacial interludes but also many magnetic reversals throughout geological time.

What is predictable is that the climate and the earth’s magnetic field are going to change (or currently are in a state of change at the moment) whether we like it or not and to suggest that man can control these changes is analogous to pushing water uphill with a rake.

The best we can do is possibly slow the rate of change for the climate.

But with the world’s population rising to eight billion by 2024, nine billion by 2040 and potentially 16 billion by 2100, any attempts could well be cancelled out.

Remember, this population explosion has occurred in just a few hundred years which is not even a nano second part of geological time. Stan Randle

Alexandra

Museum celebrations

I RECENTLY visited the Est. 1868 Exhibition at the Otago Museum which celebrates 150 years of the Otago Museum.

As a former staff member, I was surprised to notice that in the entranceway where significant events in the museum’s history are listed, the holding of the Te Maori Exhibition is attributed to the period when Richard Cassels was director.

This is incorrect — the Te Maori Exhibition was held at Otago Museum for the two months of December 1986 and January 1987. At that time Dr Ray Forster was director.

Richard Cassels took up the position of director in December 1987.

The Te Maori Exhibition was an amazing event and a huge success thanks to the commitment of (the then relatively few) staff, volunteers, Friends of the Museum, trust board members, Maori community, and members of the public.

It was surely the biggest event in the past 150 years of the Otago Museum and I feel that the reference to this should be accurate.

Denise Hesson

Dunedin

Rail transport

IT is amusing to read letters such as Tony Binns’ (ODT, 13.10.18).

I remember many years ago when rail freight was moved to trucking companies.

I seem to recall that this happened because a member of the government at the time had a soninlaw who owned such a company.

Along with many others, I thought, if that was truly what happened, it was very shortsighted.

Rail traffic, both of freight and passengers, was convenient in so many ways.

Regardless of the reasoning behind the move, it failed to take into account the fact that things never stay static.

The congestion on our roads, and the underuse of our railways, is proof of our inability to see the consequences of actions based on selfinterest.

If the move back to rail is ever made in any large way, the wheel will have turned full circle.

Lesley Vlietstra

Outram