We’re lucky to have Ros Pochin

Congratulations to Tracy Neal for her article depicting the everyday life of one of the most caring and diligent people we have in Nelson, Ros Pochin ( Nelson Mail, January 12).

Having had firsthand dealings with this ‘‘Super Lady’’, rest assured that all that Tracy wrote is true.

Our first meeting was professional, sympathetic and very matter-of-fact. Her advice was superb, and advice we followed though on our journey with breast cancer, the one she has a passion for.

The people of Nelson will never know how lucky we are to have this little dynamo living with us and helping us in a way that only she knows. Now knowing that she has a psychology degree makes us understand how she can read her patients and give them the advice they need, and this differs for every patient.

For any woman who has the misfortune to find a lump in her breast, be assured that when you meet Ros, you will be in the best hands. We loved the photos, but only wish that you could have had one that showed the floral blue gumboots Ros wears in theatre.

Thank you to Ros and her family for choosing to live and work in Nelson. LYNNE AND BOB CROY Wakefield, January 17.

Messy campers

While it is possible we may feel some sympathy for the tourists who were swept down the river while camping on the Waimea River bank ( Nelson Mail, January 16), they are, luckily for them, living proof of the stupidity of people who have no basic camping sense, and ignore the weather conditions and the freedom camping rules.

The Tasman District Council prohibits camping on the riverside of the stopbank on that river. These young tourists, no doubt, did not have suitably selfcontained vehicles with toilet and wastewater containment, so would have used the area where they camped as a toilet and waste disposal area before moving on. Tourists should be encouraged to use campgrounds with facilities, and to achieve this, campgrounds need to make the cost of an overnight stay more affordable. RON BURT Richmond, January 16.

Pike River recovery

Your opinion piece ( Nelson Mail, January 15) cautions against the decision by the prime minister to spend more money to look at body recovery of the 29 killed at Pike River.

The families asked for a proper round table discussion by the experts. This is what John Key has agreed to convene. He has read our report. We have been up the open 180-metre section of the mine, flown over the site, and met Solid Energy and Mines Rescue.

If the first round of proper discussions on going up the drift at the mine reaches agreement, then the second round to look at our proposal to enter the main workings can properly begin. This is not peddling false hope, but sound mining engineering.

The Pike River disaster has fundamentally changed the way our country sees safety and health at work. A programme has been put in place by the Government to implement the royal commission recommendations, and a special task force has been established to review all safety and health regulations and practice, and make recommendations for modernising it.

If the experts can agree, the high hazards unit can support and the Government can oversee a safe body recovery operation. Surely that is a good outcome, too? DAVE FEICKERT Mine safety adviser, Member of the Families Expert Group Whanganui, January 16.

City walkways

Our local walkways are often difficult to find, and I can’t help thinking that some neighbourhoods, especially the more affluent ones, would prefer not to have walkers passing by their homes.

However, we all pay rates either directly, or indirectly through renting, and so we should all have easy access to council-maintained walkways, reserves and parks. Also, of course, encouraging people to walk more means a healthier population and less traffic on the roads.

One example is that if you go to the ‘‘top’’ of Hampden St and then along Ronaki Tce, if you search hard enough, you will eventually find trail access to the Grampians. There are no signs anywhere nearby to indicate this.

Maybe we could have coloured, flexible poles, like the blue ones that mark the Great Taste Trail, with arrows, located in the vicinity of walkways and trails, so that they are easier to locate.

Nelson is a great city to walk in, and if we can promote this, then not only is it better for the local community but it will also help to encourage our visitors to stay longer (and spend more money here). HARRY PEARSON Nelson, January 15.

Climate change

Adrian Faulkner has written a superb Voices article ( Nelson Mail, January 12). It echoes a similar excellent one put in by John Moore a few months ago.

No doubt the article will annoy those almost religious cranks who deny that global temperatures are increasing due to the burning of fossil fuels. They will suggest all is well. Their cant is their belief that they know better than the climate scientists. Their naysaying causes confusion in the minds of some people. In turn, this slows political will to develop strategies for the truly frightening future we can see ahead.

Adrian underlines the issue of overpopulation and how this will make New Zealand an island haven in a desperate world as more global warming takes place. He is absolutely right that we must select politicians who understand the situation and are prepared to make the necessary changes. The changes required will strike at the heart of our culture. We will no longer be heavy consumers, our love of travel will be severely moderated, and imports will have to be cut right back. This is not a pretty future, but one which could be sustainable. It can only happen through social and political will. PAUL LUNBERG Nelson, January 13.

Lack of understanding

In attacking Adrian Faulkner’s Voices piece, Jim Ring ( Mailbox, January 15) needs to check his facts more carefully.

The British Met Office did not state that there would be ‘‘no warming in the near future’’, but was merely revising downwards an earlier prediction that by 2017, mean temperatures would rise by 0.43 degrees C rather than 0.54°C.

In supporting his cornucopian worldview, Jim Ring quotes the fact that ecologist Paul Ehrlich lost a bet with Julian Simon on the future prices of five metals. As a professor of business administration, Simon could not be expected to be environmentally literate. So, when he stated in 1981 that the availability of any natural resource will not be much smaller than it is now, he was clearly not thinking of fish stocks or fresh water, both of which are now seriously depleted.

However, it was Simon’s statement that human population growth could continue for 7 billion years that revealed his staggering ignorance. In reality, even after a ‘‘mere’’ 7 million years, at a steady annual growth rate of 1 per cent, there would be more humans than electrons and protons in the universe.

In such spectacular lack of understanding of the power of exponential growth, Simon lost any entitlement to be taken seriously over environmental matters. MARTIN HANSON Auckland, January 16.