Christchurch pupils win essay prizes

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34031, 20 December 1975, Page 7

Christchurch pupils win essay prizes

Two secondary school pupils from the Christchurch area, have won first prize in a national essay 7 competition conducted by the Energy Resources Conservation Campaign committee. Christopher Lonsdale, aged 16 a sixth former at Kaiapoi High School won section one of the competition for pupils 15 years and ever. Justine Thompson, aged 13, a third former at Avonside Girls’ High School, Christchurch, won section two, for pupils under 15 years of age. The theme of the essays was “Go easy on Energy.” . Christopher Lonsdale’s j essay was entitled, “Why 1 New Zealand must go easy on Energy — now and in the future.” It reads as follows: For thousands of years man has known how to make fire and thus to tap the latent energy of the materials which he burned. Over the centuries his knowledge of how to tap and utilise energy grew. Today he has gained the knowledge which gives him the ability to destroy his own planet. In the eighteen hundreds the Industrial Revolution occurred, bringing mechanisation of all forms to the world. In the modern world man uses many materials with which to supply himself with energy. Initially, the main fuel was wood (e.g. the old wood burning steam engines). This was replaced by coal and today the main emphasis is on the fluid fossil fuels, 62 per cent of our energy needs being supplied by petroleum. The other supplies are composed of 17 per cent coal, 18 per cent hydro-electricity and 3 per cent natural gas. Three of the above are exhaustable hydro-carbons. Each year our energy consumption increases especially where petroleum is concerned. For a start I will deal with petroleum. This has almost become the backbone of our modern society. Not only do we run industry and transport on its products and by-products but crude oil also yields tar, cosmetics, plastics and a great range of other materials which are now taken for granted in the modern world. As I have already mentioned, the fossil fuels are a finite energy source: one day they will run out. When that happens our whole socio-econimic structure will crumble to ruins if an alternative energy source has not been found.

Each year petroleum consumption in New Zealand and the world at large. One reason for this is the world population increase so for a start we should conserve

energy for the billions of the future, even though it would be preferable not to have such an overpopulation. Anyway, petroleum is a dirty fuel. Besides giving us a life style which makes us (in general) fat and lazy, it pollutes. So do nuclear fuels, which are only a slight help anyway, as they are finite sources. As I see it, at the present time all forms of energy should be conserved, but petroleum products more than most. At the present rate of consumption these will not hold out for much longer. Besides, there are other forms of non-finite energy sources. Hydro-elec-tric power is one but this can be intermittent, as we have seen in New Zealand. Also, it only caters to 18 per cent of our power needs. The reason that it is vital to

conserve energy is to give the world more time to develop the non-finite sources such as solar power, wind power, geothermal power and other like energy extraction methods. In the future we may be able to become more extravagant with energy but until such time as we have resources which will not threaten to expire on us we shall have to use sparingly the finite sources upon which we rely. I do not particularly want to see our world crumble —- do you? Miss Thompsons essay reads as follows: — New Zealand, God's own , country, filled with native | bush, native birds, snowy | mountains, cloudless skies I and picturesque lakes. Oh yes, New 7 Zealand is Heaven. Singing streams, green grass, fresh flowers, and dew covered pine trees. How many of you feel proud to live in such a paradise? Don’t you feel just great when Aunt Mabel tells all the relations over in Aussie about the beauty of our land. Make the most of it New Zealand is facing a crisis, an energy crisis. Our lakes are low, electricity is short, petrol is increasing in price. We cannot afford to lose energy, we cannot afford to lose time.

Take the average, two-car, I Kiwi family. Dad. propped I up in his easy chair thumb-1 ing through his Turf Digest, Mum knitting away furiously. The eldest child doing his homework and the youngest colouring in. The cental heating is on full blast, not to mention the television plus the radio. The bath water is running ready for Dad’s daily soak. All the lights in the house are on and the electric blankets are on high ready for the family to retire. Can we honestly say this family is conserving energy? Now take the Hatcher family, Dad reading to the kids, Mum filling the hotties ready for bed. No television, no radio on. A wood fire crackling in the hearth, Dad’s Raleigh Twenty is in the shed ready for him to go to work on. Only the rooms, being used, have lights on. This family is really helping New Zealand.

Which would you rather do? Live in luxury and watch New Zealand die. Or conserve a little, save a little, care a little, and help 'your country live?