Smoking
My wife smokes. She is a considerate smoker. She never asks, "do you mind if I smoke in your presence?" She goes away and smokes where it cannot hurt anyone else. This is often very inconvenient. What's worse her health is shot. But unfortunately she is addicted and stopping has, so far, proved impossible. She has said that she wishes cigarettes had not been available 40 years ago.
We had an opportunity to save future generations. There was no question of banning smokers. Instead the idea was to stop people becoming smokers. Of course the tobacco lobby screamed and applied pressure. But we had a strong government who said, "No! Our people's health comes first." Unfortunately the current government caved in.
All sorts of stupid arguments were raised. One of the best looked at 20 years time. Imagine two forty year olds. The older can go into a shop and buy cigarettes. The younger is banned. But look at it more closely. The elder is spending $500 a week, coughing his guts out while trying vapes and patches. Meanwhile the younger, who is not addicted, has a larger disposable income and better health.
Perhaps I'm being unfair on the government. Perhaps they didn't just cravenly cave in. Several had worked for the tobacco companies in the past. Whilst they aren't being paid now (that would be an illegal conflict of interest) what happens when they retire? In the UK there was the 'revolving door syndrome'. Government ministers would hand out favours and then when they left office, suddenly they became non-executive directors.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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61.4% Summer
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37% Winter
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1.7% Other - I'll share below
Would you like a free copy of our February 2025 issue?
Kia ora neighbours. We give away free copies to readers whose recipes are used in our magazine. We're still on the hunt for tomato recipes, so send your family's favourite way to use up your homegrown harvest, to: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. If we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of the mag
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