Surely it is the plants which make a garden?
As a self-confessed "plant nut" my key reason for going to the Dunedin Botanic Garden is not to visit the cafe, but to enjoy the trees, display houses and the many different plant collections.
My husband has found it a great place to draw and an elderly friend who lived near the gardens delighted in taking his morning constitutional along the herbaceous border path each day. It is a green space for city folk to enjoy the outdoors in and hopefully learn to appreciate plants too.
And yes the cafe could badly do with some love and attention, but it is iconic and should stay.
Our botanic garden is a very good one and I really hope the DCC listens to garden staff and to the Friends of the Dunedin Botanic Garden before making any major changes.
It concerns me the mention of cruise ships and that the council will suddenly decide to charge an admission fee which will adversely affect the local community who use the gardens.
Laura Gregory
Waikouaiti
Losing rights
It’s true, as Hilary Calvert notes (Opinion ODT 4.7.24), that no species had any right to protection from extinction in the billions of years of evolution prior to the development of human society, but has been false ever since.
A right is a social construct, and so long as human societies exist, species and ecosystems do have them, just as much as private property holders. Currently fashionable political ideology emphasises private property rights far above those of species and ecosystems, but this is arbitrary (and ultimately self-harming), and up to us all to decide. Rights are free inventions of human communities.
Therefore it is worth remembering, all will lapse upon the death of the second to last human being in existence. Including in particular those of the last surviving human, who at that point will have neither property rights, right to employment, protection from extinction of their species, nor any other.
Alan McCulloch
Dunedin
Extinction event
Hilary Calvert’s statement that: "The reality is that 99% of all species which have ever lived on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are estimated to have died out" is not incorrect.
She then asserts: "We are encouraged to believe that, if there was ever a creature on the Earth, then it has a right be protected from extinction."
However, endless scientific evidence reminds us that historical and ongoing human actions have had far-reaching consequences on our planet and the creatures inhabiting it.
The multitude of ways in which humans have impacted the environment extend from local and regional impacts to global-scale changes, influencing everything from weather patterns to of course the survival of entire species.
Therefore, when one more species (humans) inevitably dies out, the process of reversing people-induced problems can hopefully begin to rebalance the planet for those remaining creatures.
The historical and ongoing list of human effects is long: ozone depletion, acid rain, soil degradation, deforestation, plastic-laden oceans, a cooking planet, and habitat destruction to name a few.
I, and many others believe, that every creature on the Earth (including humans) has a right to at least be protected from an accelerated extinction.
Cr Steve Walker
Port Chalmers
Nuance and balance, not blinkered rhetoric
I am writing in response to M. Stevens’ letter (ODT 1.7.24) defending the government's handling of the hospital build and attacking the previous Labour government's record.
While I agree that fiscal responsibility is crucial, I disagree with the simplistic and biased analysis presented.
The previous government made significant investments in vital public services and addressed long-neglected issues like child poverty and climate change.
It is unfair to dismiss their efforts as mere "waste" without acknowledging the complexities and challenges they faced.
Furthermore, the current government's emphasis on cost-cutting and efficiency must not come at the expense of essential services and quality outcomes.
As a taxpayer, I expect value for money, but also value for people's lives and wellbeing.
Let's strive for a more nuanced and balanced approach to governance, rather than perpetuating partisan rhetoric.
D. Stevens
Dunedin
Wit and wisdom
Reading of the daily Letters to the Editor column in the ODT should be made compulsory daily reading for everyone in the Dunedin City Council and Otago Regional Council, plus many others in power.
The wisdom, logic and practicality of so many of these comments and suggestions make so much sense, that one automatically tends to think "oh, that won't fly, it is far too sensible".
And sure enough, very little comes of any of them (to our knowledge and in our experience).
Even a comment/reply from the subjects of the letter would be very interesting.
Suzanne Lane
Mosgiel