CLIMATE CHANGE

A fortnight back I returned (briefly) to New Zealand in supposedly mid winter to find, my hundreds of poplar trees aside, my property ablaze with normally mid Autumn red and golden leaves. Add to that lots of hydrangeas and the like, still in full flower etc. Climate change per chance? No.

A decade back when I was producing a weekly nation-wide newspaper column I wrote how we have our seasons wrong. Over my life-time there’s been a gradual shift by about two months, thus our seasons weather now align with the northern hemisphere.

Claiming summer begins on the 1^st November, as it certainly did in the post-war years, is simply no longer the case. In New Zealand it begins in mid-January, as most gardeners will confirm.

It matters hugely, specially for school-children who return to school on the 1^st February having endured the rain, winds and erratic temperatures characteristic of Spring in their two months holiday break starting on the 1^st December. So too for the seemingly now minority of New Zealanders who actually work in employment and no longer enjoy a full summer break. It’s a simple matter to fix by mere declaration.

At the time my newspaper column induced a heavy response but noteworthy, a reaction from Peter Dunne who it transpired held the portfolio for public holidays, something I didn’t know existed. Peter volunteered he’d look into shifting the school holidays (and obviously with that, the annual workers holiday) but nothing happened.

This could be a good policy plan for ACT albeit not for the Nats who are averse to change other than talking about it.