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Sunshine got people out on Saturday with a good crowd popping into the Classy Crafts Market in Bucklands Beach. Photo supplied

CROWDS ABUZZ AT BUCKLANDS BEACH VENUE

A blue sky day, delightful sea views, a fabulous range of handcrafted products and an eyecatching Lego display attracted many visitors and regular clients to Bucklands and Eastern Beaches War Memorial Hall for the Classy Crafts Market on Saturday.

Crafters arranged their stalls inside and outside the hall, and colourful bunting, balloons and spot prizes combined with cheerful chatter and music courtesy of radiowavnz.com, added to the buzzy atmosphere.

A big thank you is extended to everyone who came along to support their local artisans.

It was lovely to see young and old enjoying the Lego display and thirsty stallholders and shoppers supporting the local café. They nearly ran out of coffee!

Classy Crafts returns to the Picton Centre, 120 Picton Street, Howick, from 9am-1pm with a full range of crafts. Come along and shop for those unique gift ideas for your mid-year Christmas celebration and enjoy the vibe.

Marilyn Bakker Classy Crafts WE CAN ALL HELP WITH EMISSIONS

Re: Carbon crazy (Times, June 22). Ian George tells us what I always suspected – that our CO2 emissions are only 0.17 per cent of the world’s output.

Instead of blaming the cows, perhaps people can get into the habit of not driving the kids to school or having their holidays in New Zealand instead of flying overseas then perhaps it might become 0.16 per cent.

Maryke Ponse Cockle Bay AGGRESSIVE DOGS

I have a small dog, when it bites it’s like a very small sewing machine nibbling on my hand so I basically ignore it.

My daughter and her husband have two dogs like Bella. I’m the only one who can walk them both and for me they are lovely dogs.

If they attack (they get into a frenzy) and you still have a face afterwards, I would consider you lucky. If you’re less than 45kg and actually survive, you’re also lucky.

But like I said, for me they are 98 per cent nice polite dogs. It’s not about aggressive breeds, but which ones do the most damage if they attack.

Randel Case Bucklands Beach

CO2 GREENHOUSE GAS

Your correspondent John Caldwell (Times, July 13) claims: “CO2 is vital in regulating the Earth’s temperature”.

He also claims: “The percentage of CO2 in the atmosphere has been constant at 0.028 per cent for 4 million years” [prior to 1800].

If CO2 controls the planet’s temperature, and has been constant for 4 million years, how is it that the Earth has been through multiple ice ages and inter-glacial periods in that time?

Through periods where most of North America was under hundreds of metres of ice and through periods where you could grow grapes in Northern England and farm in Greenland?

Through periods where sea level changes have made it possible to walk on land from what is now London to what is now Amsterdam? And have turned seas into deserts?

All these dramatic changes were happening long before man figured out that he could burn stuff that he dug out of the ground.

And how is it that even though human consumption of ‘fossil’ fuels has fluctuated dramatically over the last 150 years, that CO2 concentration has risen at a more-or-less constant rate in that time?

And how is it that even though the increase in CO2 concentration has risen at a more-or-less constant rate, temperatures have fluctuated from the dust-bowl highs of the early 20th Century to “the ice age is coming” lows of the 70s and now back to the levels of a hundred years prior in the early 21st Century?

Either he is wrong that CO2 was constant, or he is wrong that CO2 is the ‘vital’ controller of the Earth’s temperature.

I would argue that the evidence suggests he is wrong about both.

While CO2 may be a factor in the Earth’s climate equation, it seems to me that the geological and meteorological records contradict the claim that it is ‘the vital factor’.

The Earth’s climate changes on cycles that we’re only just beginning to recognise, never mind understand.

The only constant of climate is that it changes. It is absurd to try and control it and a conceit to think that we can.

Even climate scientists do not dispute that we are currently between ice ages – in a rare (geologically speaking) inter-glacial period where the temperatures are warm enough to support a flourishing of civilisation.

If we’re lucky, we’re still near the beginning of it. If we’re unlucky, then the “ice age is coming” predictions of the 1970s may come to pass sooner than we’d like. And an ice age will be much worse for us than even the worst-case warming scenarios.

The trillions of dollars being spent on trying to prove that humans are causing climate change by burning fossil fuel and in efforts to undo the alleged damage, would be much better spent learning how to adapt to an everchanging climate.

On how to build infrastructure to protect humans, plants and animals from the inevitable future changes.

And on helping to raise the millions of still impoverished people around the world into something resembling prosperity, so that they too can prepare their environments for the ever-changing future their children will inherit.

Ryan Price Half Moon Bay NEIGHBOURS, THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP

On Saturday June 18 in the morning, I went to get into my car to go out.

In doing so, I could not release the handbrake as I have weak hands.

So I looked down the street and saw a lady walking by and I asked her if she could release the handbrake for me.

She sat in the car and released the handbrake. I was standing at bottom of the drive. The car door knocked me down on my head.

Then I had a lot of help from two people in particular. One is a student nurse, Mikala, and the other one is Michelle, who both live in Galvan Avenue which is directly opposite my drive, so they can see straight away what’s going on and they came to help.

By this time, I was bleeding profusely. Mikala and Michelle went into my house and grabbed plenty of towels to put my head on, as well as ringing an ambulance.

Mikala sat with her pillow underneath my head and towels round.

We waited and waited. It didn’t come after about two hours so they said they’ll take me in the car.

They took me to my doctors, nobody was there.

So from there we went to A&E and Mikala went and got a wheelchair for me.

They took me inside. A nurse said it looked like a fractured skull.

Then they got me into the ambulance and took me to Middlemore Hospital by which time it was 11.30pm. At about 6.30am the doctor came to see me. I had a few sips of water.

The doctor took me to have my head stitched, and then I slept.

Another neighbour I would like to thank is Shelly who has been bringing me food and sweets.

I said to my family in England: “You wouldn’t believe, I was lying on driveway for two hours with people I’d never seen before, who got me where I needed to be.”

Thank you to all my neighbours who helped me.

Lily Huggett Farm Cove INSANE AMOUNT OF MONEY

The New Zealand Transport Agency will spend $25 million on a fit-out for its new Wellington offices.

Questions to National transport spokesman Simeon Brown show the fit-out of 8700sq m of Wellington office space will cost $25m, or about $2870 per square metre.

That’s significantly higher than the roughly $1600 a square metre fit-out costs that got Kainga Ora in trouble earlier this year.

That’s an insane amount of money just for a fit-out. Hell, you can almost do a new build for less than that and this is just a fit-out.

But don’t worry…it is only taxpayers’ money they are spending.

Arthur Moore Pakuranga RE-THINKING LAWNS

Many thanks Het Conroy for your community garden proposal (Times Feedback, July 11).

Bringing that concept to our front/backyards creates another opportunity. Let’s talk lawns. Yes, they are traditional, beautiful and a great kid’s space. However, when lawns become mainly decorative or a mowing chore, why not consider replacing them with: • fruits and veges to reduce reliance on ever-increasing costly and chemically-sprayed goods • greater carbon sequestering/bird enticing plants • landscapes that reduce waste – using compost to reduce food waste; grey water, rain capture to reduce water waste • Income and food generating jobs for gardeners to support non-gardeners.

Pre-Covid, emphasis was often on self-sufficiency. Het’s community garden proposal, alongside a lawn-replacement strategy, fosters a healthier way forward through shared sufficiency.

This a re-think of how to blend past traditions with ways forward that catalyse more efficient and regenerative behaviours and mindsets.

The time has come to put nature’s restoration and our children’s future front of mind. Let’s consider strategies to work better as a community. It’ll be a fun, challenging, fruitful endeavour.

Yoshimi Brett

Waipaparoa/Howick Beach

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