Letters to the Editor, February 15, 2020

In your letters to the editor today: CWA more than jam and cream; Leave the birds alone; and ship air-con and coronavirus.

Save our CWA. Picture: MATT TURNER

CWA MORE THAN JAM AND CREAM

I READ the article “CWA store puts out call for keen cooks (Mercury, February 11) regarding the need for help, both in suppliers and shop manning in the Country Women’s Association shop. It is the place to go when you need a lovely cake, gift or flowers for an occasion. It would be a great loss to the fabric of our society.

I have a suggestion. Most secondary schools have a unit in years 7-10 where culinary skills are taught. Could schools develop a partnership in providing biscuits and cakes for sale with profits going to cover the cost of ingredients. Also, some students could volunteer to assist in the shop with supervision and documentation to add to their CV when applying for work.

It is beneficial for older and younger citizens to develop relationships based on mutual experiences. Social interaction across the age groups is beneficial to both young and old. Please help save our CWA.

Elizabeth Williams , Sorell

We are the problem

WE have all watched in horror as firestorms ripped through Australia’s east coast. We have all watched in disgust as the Liberal Party has tried to whitewash its incompetence in denying anthropogenic global heating. And we all want to drive our kids to school in our SUVs. We want to drive to our duopolistic grocery supermarkets in shopping centres. We want to drive our family’s other SUV to work each day causing rush-hour congestion. If any of our scientifically illiterate politicians ever tried to modify our behaviour, taking our lifestyles back to the early 1950s, they would be out of office rapidly, courtesy of our selfishness, supported by our far-Right news media which makes and breaks political careers in Australia. We, as much as any politician, are the problem.

R.H. Findlay , Lindisfarne

Leave the birds alone

THE main consideration about the Orford Bird Sanctuary proposal should be that some birds are permanent residents of the sanctuary, as well as those that breed and raise their chicks there, and they should be entitled to a peaceful, unthreatened existence in their natural habitat. I have seen young children chase birds in public areas, including birdlife areas, watched by parents. There are other beaches in Orford for families to enjoy. Please leave the bird sanctuary fully fenced permanently.

Karyl Whelan , Orford

Fenced in

HAVING grown up playing and swimming at the Prosser River mouth I have seen massive changes to the shoreline. The latest attempt to keep the mouth open has resulted in an “island” that birds love. This is great and I am glad they are being protected. Unfortunately, in their enthusiasm to protect the birds, the council did fencing without consulting the public and fenced off an area that is popular for kids and toddlers to play and swim. They (bird watchers mainly) say humans should be locked out of the whole area all the time, even though the birds are only in need of an exclusion zone when they are nesting/rearing young.

The proposal being assessed is based on current best practice and suggests portions of the area can be shared and that temporary fencing and signage is the way to keep birds safe (especially as this year they nested outside the fencing). The permanent fences are not dog proof nor in the right place. This proposal is about implementing an effective approach and removing a small part of fence so people can access an area where birds happily share with humans.

Steve Harwin , South Hobart

For the record

●The Mercury yesterday reported Latrobe Council had run “intense” investigations with federal agencies since January 2019. Latrobe Mayor Peter Freshney has confirmed council first engaged with the federal government department that administers the seasonal workers’ program on February 4, 2020.

●The Mercury yesterdayincorrectly reported the date of a rescheduled meeting for North Hobart business stakeholders to discuss access and parking on the Elizabeth St retail and restaurant strip. It is the workshop session on Thursday that has been rescheduled and will now start at 10am, while the session on Friday will go ahead as planned at 7.30am.

COULD SHIP’S AIR CON SPREAD CORONAVIRUS?

ARE the increasing cases of coronavirus on the cruise ship Diamond Princess in Japan (increasing daily and the largest outside of China) linked to the ship’s airconditioning system cooling towers?

Building airconditioning systems have previously been found to HAVE spread pathogens, such as legionnaires’ disease.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, legionnaires’ disease can be spread in buildings by occupants inhaling water vapour from the airconditioning units, where the legionella bacteria are infesting the cooling towers.

Quoting directly from the CDC: “After legionella grows and multiplies in a building water system, water containing legionella then has to spread in droplets small enough for people to breathe in.

“People can get legionnaires’ disease or pontiac fever when they breathe in small droplets of water in the air that contain the bacteria.”

For the thousands of passengers confined to their staterooms on board the Diamond Princess, and breathing in the recirculated air, is this possibly the worst place they could be?

Perhaps the world’s biggest petri dish?

Donald Maisch , Lindisfarne

HOT TOPIC: SENATOR ABETZ AND BUSHFIRES

HISTORY WILL BE A HARSH JUDGE

IF my mathematics (always questionable) is correct, there have been 11 letters so far disputing Eric Abetz’s claims (Talking Point, January 29) that greens are responsible for the bushfire crisis because of their opposition to hazard reduction burns. Many have pointed out that his conflation of regeneration burns with hazard reduction burns is incorrect.

The last decade saw an increasing number of summers with record high temperatures, and more extremely hot days. Common sense and science clearly indicate that this increasing number of excessively hot days is going to predispose our bush to catastrophic fires.

Future generations, if we have any, are going to revile the likes of Abbott and Abetz. Not only have they prevented government from taking the strong action required on climate change, they have killed the so-called carbon tax and prevented Australia from taking a leading role in climate change advocacy on the world stage.

Bob Holderness-Roddam , Austins Ferry

Waste of time

ONE could waste time trying to explain to Eric Abetz why his claims to know more about climate and bushfire science than the great majority of researchers in these fields is so unconvincing. But what would be the point? Eric has spent most of his life loathing greenies and wanting them to be wrong about everything. How could he ever admit that in fact he is the one who is now so obviously wrong about climate change? It would be kinder to everybody to simply give him a box to stand on in St Davids Park where he could rant to his heart’s content. At least then he would be entertaining!

Chris Sharples , Leslie Vale

Thanks and goodbye

THE Tasmanian senator from the last century, Eric Abetz, would have us all ignore the overwhelming evidence of climate change and its causes (direct or otherwise) and jump into our FJ Holdens, visit nana for a roast on Sunday after church and debate the real issues of the day, such as whether the earth is flat.

Would the millennial politicians thank Senator Abetz for his (destructive) contributions over the last decade or so and ask him to simply “go away”.

Neil Cranston , Battery Point

Facing reality

SENATOR Eric Abetz claims to have found two scientists whose work, if selectively cherrypicked, won’t confirm a link between “this season’s” megafires and climate change, although they don’t deny it and do think it probable, which simply means that, unlike Eric, they understand how science works. To bolster his claim, Eric points out that between them those two have 100 years’ experience. From that we could infer, if we want to, that much of that expertise was formed prior to present conditions, scientific knowledge and understanding, but let’s run with what Eric considers an argument. How many years’ experience would all those former fire chiefs trying to wake up this government have between them? Or the 97 per cent of climate scientists worldwide who have been warning of these events for 40 years?

Eric says anyone who disagrees with his uninformed opinion is green and pathetic. I’m sure Eric isn’t green, but in regard to pathetic arguments, I think he has the field.

In the 1930s Winston Churchill spent much of the decade warning about the rising Nazi Germany menace. His conservative colleagues dismissed him and labelled him “alarmist”. Until September 1939. A year later he was PM. Reality can only be denied for a limited time, and when finally accepted, reactions change quickly.

Val Holliday , Lachlan

It’s only natural

IT is natural Eric Abetz should attempt to defend his opinion that bushfires are caused by greens and not climate change. He cites two bushfire management scientists to justify his claims. I checked and they are indeed qualified and campaign enthusiastically for fuel reduction burns and for climate change denial.

Greens are trying to persuade governments to understand climate change while Roger Underwood and David Packham are trying to persuade them to understand fuel reduction burns. The two are not mutually exclusive. Fuel reduction burns are necessary but are not sufficient.

Keith Anderson , Kingston