Letter to the Editor
By Sarah Dixon
Source: gisborneherald.co.nz
Thank you Gisborne Herald for that hideous photo on page one showing us what we’re allowing the petroleum industry to do to our magnificent East Coast. I don’t know what others see, but when I look at that I envision not only the grotesque visual impact but also images of communities across North America where polluted water makes people ill and flames shoot from kitchen faucets.
We don’t seem to notice that the United Nations has been saying for years that we must divest ourselves of fossil fuel interests. The problems are not just climate change and rising sea levels. Increasing pollution of land, sea, and air from petroleum extraction, burning, product manufacture, plastic rubbish, and petrochemical agriculture affect our lives in many ways.
Could there be hope that we might change course here on the East Coast? When we settled here I was amazed to see surfers in Poverty Bay over the sewage pipe. I asked why Gisborne was not utilising all those recoverable wetlands for wastewater purification. Shoulders shrugged. Twelve years later I see that wetlands wastewater treatment is considered a viable option.
Could I hope to see in the future a petroleum-free East Coast? Could I expect to find clear-cut timber lands and idle farmlands converted to grow non-toxic hemp for fibre, clothing manufacture, plastics, dioxin-free paper, non-toxic fertiliser for our farmers, high-protein feed for our stock, hemp protein for our health, biofuel to run our vehicles? Clean-hemp industry jobs on our beautiful East Coast?
The US Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper. Early settlers arrived in New Zealand powered by hemp sails. Henry Ford built a car with hemp and wheat and ran it on hemp biofuel. What price are we paying in our health and our economy by perpetuating our toxic petroleum addiction? What could we gain economically and healthwise by divesting ourselves of petroleum interests and switching to hemp?
It’s a lot easier on the eyes than that horrific drilling rig.
SARAH DIXON
No comments:
Post a Comment