Cameron+Opinion+Writing

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Are we becoming controlled by technology?-Final Copy
In my opinion we are becoming too controlled by today’s technology like cars and computers. Computers are used more than pens and pencils, and it is easier to just go to the internet and type in some search words than to go to the library.

One thing that technology has going for it is exercise machines. Because, instead of going for a run around the block, just go to the gym, and do a couple of kilometres on the treadmill. Also instead of biking to school just get mum to give you a lift in her car with air conditioning and radio.

A second point that technology has going for it is that it makes daily life a lot easier, instead of slicing bread when you get it from the supermarket, you can get it already sliced!

But on the other hand if you want to sent a message to someone to catch-up with them, you send them a TXT instead of writing a letter and posting it in the mail and “Hello, how are you today” becomes “hi hw r u 2day” because you can only have a limited amount of characters in a TXT message.

On a third point instead of going to the park and playing Frisbee or tag or even bullrush or having any family time (Apart from watching Shortland Street or The Simpsons) children just go and sit in front of the computer or play video games.

In conclusion I believe that technology is controlling our life because it is so quick to do things with technology. Also I believe that today’s technology is the reason that there is a recession going on.

Anti-Smacking Law
A smack is when one person hits another usually an adult hitting a child. This is usually a physical method of making certain that the child doesn’t do that again. The assumption is that when the child goes to do that again he/she will keep in mind the smack and not do it. There is a law, that Sue Bradford from the Green party initiate, that says that you are not allowed to smack a child; I don’t think that it is a good idea.

For one a smack is a physical technique of confirming that the child will never do that again. Parents are accountable for their children and if they see their child being disobedient then they should be capable to smack their child as part of telling them off.

Secondly a physical correction should be allowed as part of a punishment. But real abuse should be banned. As stated in section 59 of the Crimes act parents are allowed to use moderate force when disciplining their children.

On a third note I believe that if a procedure was given to deal with children misbehaving then these cases of child abuse probably would massively down size.

In conclusion I believe that smacking should be crossed off the list of criminal offences as a child should be allowed to discipline their children

Why DoC should stop using 1080
Sodium-monofluroacetate other wise known as 1080, is a Class-A poison that is very, very generously used throughout New Zealand’s native bush. Being a Class-A toxin Sodium mono fluroacetate is highly poisonous. This poison is mainly used to eradicate possums and other pests, but mainly it ends up killing the other wild life, like the kea, kiwis, deer, and even fruit bats. That’s why I say that we should stop using 1080. The brush tail possum was first introduced to New Zealand between 1837 and the 1920’s to establish a fur trade. But with little or no predators the possum quickly spread throughout New Zealand and now they cover over 95% of New Zealand’s land mass plus some off shore islands. One farmer says that three months after D.O.C did a fly-by poison drop on his farm and declared it “possum free” he hired a professional possum trapper and caught 98 possums, not counting 50 joeys in pouches, 140 bush rats and a ferret in eight days. Another example why the Department of Conservation should stop using it is that it nearly killed a whole colony of fruit bats in one night. These bats were under protection so that they would get back to a comfortable population in the central north island. This poison is cruel in the fact that it is a slow killer. It is dangerous to humans if contaminated water is drunk; one woman says that she even got supraventricular tachicardia which are extremely frightening cardiac irregularities.

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (N.Z.F.S.A.) says that people would need to eat at least 100g of the carrot baits. As all 1080 spiked carrots are dyed bright green so that they cannot be mistaken for normal carrots. Or drink over 5000 litres of water, in one sitting, from a waterway directly contaminated by a poison drop. Or eat at least 37kg of meat, in one sitting, from a sheep that died of 1080 poisoning. This equates to the meat from about 2.5 average-sized sheep. 1080 isn’t manufactured in New Zealand, it is manufactured in the US, and New Zealand uses 85-95% of the poison in the world. Possums can carry TB (or Tuberculosis), Giardia and Cryptosporidium so there is a need to get rid of them, another reason is that they eat thousands of tonnes of native brush each night.

An alternative to using poisons like1080 and cyanide is trapping or hunting but a very small number are shot every year. Other methods of excluding possums from one area are to put metal sleeves on trees, chemical repellents or fences specially designed, these do not kill possums but exclude them from one area. I don’t get why they don’t jut use these methods to bunch them all into one area and just do a big cull.

Don’t you think that it is weird that a DOC worker took down some spouting that led to his water tank three days before a DOC 1080 poison drop.

In conclusion I think that the Department Of Conservation should stop using 1080 be cause of the health risk to humans and the danger to New Zealand’s native wildlife.