Dunedin NZ Harbour Development

Posted 15th May 2019 to the Otago Daily Times Newspaper Dunedin NZ

 I think it’s great that Dunedin wants to smarten up the water front something I have written in for decades 
But how is the threat of rising sea levels going to be factored in? Also the displacement of residents and jobs BTW What is Dunedin doing about low carbon technologies?
 I still think Dunedin’s heritage is its strong point and it is a great waste not to embrace all the creativity of the 19th Century that the City Builders left us.
As for the Harbour the best thing to do is try to turn it’s industrial shores back to nature even if it means having to recreate natures hand with technology.
If you need a Waterfront Hotel Recycle a Cruise Ship or two because if things go bad, they float!  Remember reusing and re purposing is the best way to slow damage to the environment.  

Who Taxes Who? Capital Gains Debate

Posted 28th February 2019 to the Southland Times Invercargill NZ

I see the discussion of taxing the rich has come up again under the current political conditions
It might pay to keep an eye on the progressive wave that has been building in the USA against the
contempt the exceptionally wealthy is now being discussed broadly thanks to narcissistic Billionaire President from their ranks.

Capital Gains is a form of Transaction Tax that could be used on speculators and con men climbing the social ladder but its also a tool for keeping the property market from crashing.

Will this progressive thinking spill over to New Zealand if the USA gets back to the business of punishing wrong doers instead of rewarding them, who can say, but currently the Thatcher/Reaganite Neo Liberal status quo is looking a lot like a sinking liner.

Billionaires are just the ship’s orchestra.

Invercargill Lowlands and Sea Level prediction

Posted 13th Jan 2019 to the Southland Times Newspaper Invercargill NZ

It is kind of sad to see what happened to the Invercargill estuary under the human stewardship of public environmental assets that can not be exploited for commercial benefit. I can only think that there was just so much unspoiled nature in the early days of European settlement that the founders just got tired of it. Or perhaps intensification of farming we encourage lead to the final nail.

The next worry is what degradation rising sea levels will take on Southland’s numerous shallow inlets & margins.
Has anyone drawn up any projections of what we have in store in that respect?

Also how is our soil holding out? In parts of the USA the Soil is worn out from over use and is only alive due to heavy use of various nutrient applications and chemicals. Something that is repeating pattern globally with modern agriculture.

Despite low population density and our geographic distance buffer we are not isolated from global problems, or simple physics.  

America Reaches Peak Stupid 2018

Posted 10th September 2018 to the New York Times Newspaper NY USA cc Otago Daily Times

Now that the United States of America has reached peak stupid...
Don’t you think it’s time to open the windows and let the stink out?
America was founded on a dumb idea that only pointless hard toil and unpleasantness is somehow worthy.
Today our smart people are coming up with some great ways to fix the nation’s mindset
but you guys are stuck in the mud spinning your wheels going down the same old road to nowhere.
Everybody in the USA can have a sense of pride and purpose as citizens of the greatest nation ever,
sure it will take time, money and work but what else can we invest our lives in ?
If you are doing your job properly you will see this. Seek out the progressives !
A job well done is more rewarding that anything you can imagine.   

Grumpy old White Men of NZ

Posted August 15th to the Southland Times Newspaper Invercargill NZ

I hear Southland has a reputation for grumpy old men, self taught in social politics both local and international
who feel morally obliged to publicly pontificate about the danger of change in our society here and abroad.

I am happy to report they need not stop the clock because change is the essence of life and possibilities of unknown avenues  but more importantly no generation has the right to dictate to the next how to live especially if they want to glorify the world of their parents or grandparents generation or worse the 1st Century.

Yes we need the wisdom of the old and wise more than ever but in the end the planet is passed on to next in line and yes they make dumb mistakes but they absolutely don’t need to be told they are unworthy. The human race is as always a generational work in progress. Unless you count 2nd generation trust fund kids!