Local Opinion

Another Pacific Island sojourn

In my much earlier seagoing days I crossed the South Pacific 21 times – this during the early to mid-1960s on ships that carried mainly passengers and sometimes cargo. Today as I write this I…

Water quality at risk

Waikato Regional Council (WRC) recently approved a submission on the government’s proposed new wastewater environmental performance standards that are intended to be rolled out across New Zealand. Taumata Arowai is the water services regulator for…

It’s Easter again …

Good Friday and Easter Sunday are the central events of Easter.  While many of us enjoy the holiday and perhaps justify the opportunity to indulge in a bit of chocolate and a hot cross bun…

Great to be back

I’m back. After a six month hiatus working in Hamilton I have decided there is “no place like home” and I have returned to my substantive position as community constable for Te Awamutu. I particularly…

Forecasts, not crystal balls

We don’t predict eruptions – we forecast them. I sigh every time a headline boldly claims that new research will allow us to predict volcanic eruption. The word predict implies precision: saying exactly what will…

My gratitude…

I’m writing this from Nepal as I set my sights homeward in the next few days. By the time this column is published, I will have my feet planted back firmly on the beautiful land…

Eyes wide open

We say that neighbours are the best guardians to help keep our local community safe. Last Wednesday that was the case, when an eagle-eyed member of the community saw an unknown male on a nearby…

Forces beneath our feet

I’ve been thinking about the vast, interconnected processes that shape our world. As a geoscientist – someone who studies the Earth – I work across scales that range from thousands of kilometres down to microscopic…

Marvellous Maadi

Each fortnight I am driven to sit at my computer and settle on a suitable subject for this opinion piece. Sometimes it is obvious – but on other occasions I must dig deep to emerge…

A letter from Nepal

As I write, I’m on day four of a 10 day trip in Nepal. Landing in Kathmandu brought back memories of my last visit in 2019. In the surging sea of bustling humanity struggling to…

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