Unconvinced by Avatar
The tragedy of Avatar is that when its level of technical achievement becomes the norm, it will quickly be forgotten about. It’s not exactly a new Citizen Kane in terms of milestones. If it was, people would be raving about the scriptwriting talent as well as the technical achievement. Most reviewers politely skirt around the subject of intellectual content, as Dan Slevin did. I’m tempted to see Avatar just for the sake of the new 3D sparkliness, but have resolved to save myself for something that will stimulate my brain as well as my eyes. Something like a Matrix or a Blade Runner, perhaps.
David Thomsen, Hataitai

Manners Mall decision
“Manners bus-ted” (16 December) reports Wellington City Council’s decision to open Manners Mall to buses. I believe that the decision is the right one, because it will: speed the movement of buses, because the proposed mall bus route is shorter than the Dixon - Victoria streets route, and the Mercer - Wakefield - Cuba streets route, reduce delays to bus services, thus increasing their efficiency and popularity, and reducing bus exhaust emissions, make our bus system easier for new users to understand, because all buses will travel along the Golden Mile. I attended the council’s Strategy and Policy Committee meeting at which the decision was made. I was impressed by the succinct points made by the eight councilors who supported the plan, but not by the prolonged, rambling, unconvincing arguments put forward by the five councillors who opposed it.
J Chris Horne, Northland

Global Warming
We have global warming and we have opportunistic politians who can see a chance to extract more money from us and increase their power over us. How will that help? Life in this biosphere is divided between the plant and animal kingdoms. These two kingdoms minister to each other and as long as they are in balance, all is well. But the animal kingdom, led by homo sapiens, is now exploding in numbers, and to make matters worse, we have all these internal combustion engines which can each outdo any animal in devouring O2 and producing CO/CO2. The animal kingdom is out of balance and is rapidly destroying the plant kingdom. More than politicians, the world needs scientists who can lead us in nursing the plant kingdom back into robust health by reforestation, desert reclamation, etc.  I am sure that as homo sapiens (“wise man,” latin) we could do more to curb our population growth, reduce our use of fossil fuels and our use of animal foods (after all, they are the ones that contribute most to global warming and they send us to the doctor with heart attacks, strokes, cancers, etc).  It is inevitable that as human numbers increase the food producing land will have to switch to raising food for humans rather than food for animals for humans.
Milton Wainwright, Woodville

21st century or the dark ages?
How ironic that Prime Minister John Key in Copenhagen claimed that New Zealanders couldn’t afford to reduce their greenhouse emissions, yet Transport Minister Steven Joyce can find $2.4 billion public money for expenditure on non-performing assets that load us with long term costs and harm... and more greenhouse emissions. John Key and Steven Joyce could give us a real dividend if he were to follow the advice of town planning and health experts within the Transport Agency and the Lancet-UCL Commission and reduce our need for cars and trucks. Projects such as a high capacity light rail extension through the CBD to the hospital and airport, and dual rail tunnels from Pukerua Bay through to Paekakariki, could enhance the  public transport  network and take trucks off the road.
Are we going to move into the 21st Century, or let ourselves be taken back into the dark ages?
Paul Bruce, Greater Wellington Regional Councillor
(abridged)