Council’s lip service to climate
The World Meteorological Organisation has just warned that atmospheric levels of the three main greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide — reached new record highs in 2021.
With methane, it was the biggest year-on-year jump in concentrations in both 2020 and 2021 since systematic measurements began nearly 40 years ago.
Methane is many times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas over a relatively short period but not long term.
Methane and nitrous oxide are byproducts of intensive cattle farming which on a global scale contributes significantly to atmospheric methane levels.
Methane is the second-largest contributor to climate change and since 2007, globally averaged atmospheric methane concentration has increased at an accelerating rate. New Zealand society must not ignore these facts.
In Northland, these associated climate change and energy resource issues were being raised a halfcentury ago.
A 1975 letter of mine in the Northern Advocate stated, “One of the greatest tasks now facing mankind is to switch from using the limited stocks of fossil fuels such as coal and oil and uranium to the virtually inexhaustible direct and indirect flow of energy from the sun. The sooner the translation from energy stock depletion to energy flow use is made, the greater chances for man’s future.”
Around that time the pupils of Pamapuria School near Kaitaia had learning fun in making a solar cooker, which on a clear sunny day could boil a litre of cold water in 17 minutes.
It was a 1.2-metre diameter dish made with cardboard laminations over a dirt-and-mortar dome shaped on the floor of the school’s shelter shed and mounted on an inverted T-shaped stand that could track the sun.
The curves of the saucer-shaped dish were calculated to reflect the sun’s rays from a shiny surface to a focal point 45cm above its centre where a fixed ring could hold a blackbottomed cooking pan.
The reflective surface on the inside of the dish was generously donated by Tip Top from the remainder of a roll of icecream wrapping.
Pupils took turns in cooking their lunches, which included toasties, potato discs sauteed in oil and fried eggs — “Eggs sunny side up” as was headlined in a Northland Age report.
Over many years the Northland Age has provided what is probably the most informative national forum on global heating issues, but much of that discussion has been ignored by successive Far North councils that seemingly disregard its long-term plan that declares climate change poses an unprecedented level of risk to New Zealand’s natural and built environment.
With respect to the seriousness of the matter ,I suggested to the FNDC in March 2019 that a specific and essential compliance requirement relating to climate change policies be included as an addition to assessment of legislative and policy compliance issues which accompany agenda items for council meeting consideration.
The draft wording suggested under “staff assessment” was, “State the relevant council policies on