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Saving ecosystems
Jan Robertson’s letter (MM, June 23) highlights important moral decisions humans make in firstly, taking the life force from another living creature and secondly, teaching children to take similar actions.
We make moral decisions every day. Killing introduced pest animals and plants to give life to our unique ecosystems is a moral decision many are comfortable with. More so when we use methods approved by fellow humans under the guidelines of the National Animal Welfare Committee. To share such experiences with children is another moral decision many are comfortable with.
In this day and age, media saturate our society with messages of climate change and collapsing ecosystems.
To show children that by their actions they can make positive differences to our environment is uplifting.
The benefits of pest animal and plant control are all around. We see and hear kaka and can walk through endangered forest ecosystems where new growth on the forest floor makes it difficult to see more than five metres into the forest.
What many people, including children, do by their positive actions of helping create new life is a drop in the ocean. But then, what is an ocean but millions and millions of drops?
Colin Binsted, Matakana
Burn it or bury it?
Recent correspondents have been debating the management of residual waste, whether it is best to burn it or bury it.
Residual waste is the material remaining after pieces of waste that are clean, large, plain and dry have been recovered and recycled as far as possible.
Burnable pieces of waste pieces that are dirty, small, mixed or wet might be best processed through a waste incineration facility, if it is well designed and actively controlled to minimise the emission of contaminants.
If there is also a local use for hot water or steam, then such a plant might even be described as a waste-to-energy facility.
The residual waste management debate seems to be polarised between burning and burying, arguing over which is the lesser of two evils.
I suggest that a more sensible approach would be to consider limited responsible incineration of portions of the waste stream in partnership with landfilling.
This could have the benefits of reducing the volume of waste-to-be-buried, and also sterilising it.
Meeting the needs of our modern society to dispose of our residual waste is a difficult problem.
New Zealand could learn lessons from successful solutions proven overseas in countries with much higher population densities than ours.
However, when considering burning or burying or a sensible combination of both approaches, we must recognise that doing a proper responsible job in dealing with our modern society’s residual waste will be expensive.
Attributes of pieces of combustible waste
Recyclable Non-recyclable
Clean Dirty
Large Small
Plain Mixed
Dry Wet
Steve Goldthorpe, Warkworth
