Dunedin should not lay out welcome mat for oil

COUNCILLOR Andrew Whiley should know better than to speak out publicly in favour of deep sea oil exploration.

Prof Colin Campbell Hunt from the University of Otago Business School warned us in 2014 that the oil industry is dying and has a poor economic future. Many more people now agree with him that investment in assets for the city's infrastructure to be ready for a lowcarbon economy and lifestyle will be far more productive and sustainable than investment in a sunset industry.

The Dunedin City Council has declared a climate emergency and committed our city's public infrastructure to zero carbon emissions by 2030. We need our councillors to be committed to the future and support sustainable development that will benefit our children.

We know that we cannot use all the oil or gas that has already been discovered if we are to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate action. We can see the future of catastrophic global warming just over the Tasman. Why would we want to support the oil industry to cause more harm?

Cr Whiley may believe that gas is somehow less harmful than other fossil fuels but he should listen to the experts. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change cautioned that the use of gas as a transition fuel should be dependent on the development of decarbonising technologies, which do not yet exist and are not likely within a useful timeframe.

All the evidence tells us that we need to put our time, energy and money into developing innovative clean energy techonologies, renewables and appropriate infrastructure. Big oil will soon be history.

Jen Olsen Broad Bay

[Abridged]

Royal drama

DID the Duke and Duchess of Sussex drop a bombshell last week? We would have thought so, with the furore around their change of direction.

The couple are blazing a trail in to the 21st century. Significant changes have occurred in recent times around succession, and eligibility for members of the Royal Family. It is only natural for the young couple to rule their own lives.

The furore around the life and premature death of Lady Diana was certainly the catalyst for a lot of the policy changes. To its credit, the Royal Family has successfully managed to reinvent itself, and to take its place in the modern world. If the present initiative is the outcome of that, it is all to the good.

Meghan and Harry, as we might call them, are assured of a good future ahead. To take their place in a world where their kids may thrive. May they take their shared legacy forwards, as examples to a rising generation. Hoorah!

David George Cromwell

History repeats

THERE is a growing belief among some people that we are heading towards some sort of apocolypse regarding current events both cultural and climatic,

Well, I would urge those people and all others to start their daily read of the ODT in the ‘‘100 Years Ago’’ and

‘‘Today in History’’ columns.

It is not surprising that most current happenings are in fact a repeat of previous events.

For example, 1919 was reported as being the worst droughts in Australian history at the time. Icebergs were drifting past the Chatham Islands in 1893, and there have been numerous other cataclysmic events recorded in the past.

On a lighter note, today’s issue (10.1.20) reports on ‘‘over tourism’’ on the Milford Track in the summer of 1919.

Robert McCallum Clinton

Reunion

The Choristers ladies’ choir: A 50th celebration dinner will be held on February 10, 2020. Contact: Linda: 4761799. ....................................

BIBLE READING: The highway of the upright avoids evil. —Proverbs 16.17.