Chinese Lantern Festival

"Be enchanted - as the sun goes down and the lanterns light up, immerse yourself in the magic of the Auckland Lantern Festival.

Celebrating its 15th year in 2014, the Auckland Lantern Festival is one of our city’s favourite cultural events...."

So reads the Auckland Council webpage promoting this event. And what a beautiful evening it was. A few photos.... 

Click on them to get the full picture...

Keep Auckland Weird

This isn't Auckland.

It's Austin, Texas. Population much the same as Auckland. Not one of the 25 cities that Greg Clark listed in his recent Auckland Conversations talk about making Auckland "more business friendly...."

Austin's current official slogan promotes Austin as "The Live Music Capital of the World", a reference to the many musicians and live music venues within the area.... In recent years, some Austinites have also adopted the unofficial slogan "Keep Austin Weird". This interpretation of the classic, "Texas-style" sense of independence refers to: the traditional and proudly eclectic, liberal lifestyles of many Austin residents; a desire to protect small, unique, local businesses from being overrun by large corporations; and as a reaction to the perceived rise of conservative influences within the community. In the late 1800s, Austin also became known as the City of the "Violet Crown" for the wintertime violet glow of color across the hills just after sunset. Even today, many Austin businesses use the term "violet crown" in their name. Austin is known as a "clean air city" for the city's stringent no-smoking ordinances that apply to all public places and buildings, including restaurants and bars.

I wrote here about the recent Lorde concert at Silo Park, and quoted from the last part of Greg Clark's talk, which you won't find in his slide presentation. In that post I quoted Greg Clark along these lines:

He told us that Auckland rated high for quality of life, outstanding natural environment, highly effective governance institutions. BUT that Auckland has "patchy global appeal", ranks weak in "presence" and is weak in "liveliness". In fact he used the word "anonymous" to describe Auckland. He advised that Auckland needed to find its DNA, to expose its soul, to discover its inbuilt pattern, and work with that - not against it.....

 Greg Clark went on to advise that part of Auckland's DNA was its maori and polynesian culture. What are we doing about making Maori culture centre-stage in Auckland? There's been some talk, and we're certainly big on vision statements, but I wonder whether the words: "World Class" and "Most Liveable City"  (most liveable for who? - as I asked in this posting), are running counter to Auckland's DNA?

This artwork was designed by New Zealand artist Michael Parekowhai, and is (maybe was) housed in Te Papa, Wellington. Michael has apparently been involved in designing a piece of artwork to go on the end of Queens Wharf. A plan whose lack of consultation was appropriately criticised by Rudman last week.

As I understand it, the sculpture proposed was to look like a state house - but scaled down a bit in size - with a large chandelier  hanging within. I read somewhere that the idea was an image about "keeping the home fires burning". This could have been about the number of servicemen who left for the war by ship from Queens Wharf, and it could be about the number of immigrants and settlers who came into Auckland by ship, and set foot in New Zealand on or around Queens Wharf.

What this proposed sculpture again highlights is the emphasis on European culture, on the colonial experience, on the history of colonisation of New Zealand. I would argue that most - if not all - of Auckland's CBD built environment, and its artworks and sculptures reflect and embody European culture - not the pacifica polynesian culture we write about, and talk about, and envision, and which is big part of Auckland's DNA, but - apart from a few recent signifiers - remains invisible. This artwork by the way shows "New Wharf" - which morphed into Queens Wharf. The two waka reflect the trading role of Maori. You can see the pair of colonial soldiers. Those sitting on the ground are likely to be Maori traders and family groups. The street turning left is Shortland Street. The picture shows where the reclaimed edge of Auckland CBD was in the 1850's.

I wonder whether live music - which is a very big part of polynesian culture - you only have to look at NZ's Got Talent to see that - might be a way of livening up Auckland ("lively up yourself"). We can still be the City of Sails,  but adding another cultural layer would be interesting.

Here's what they say about Austin's live music scene.... "First-time visitors might be surprised to find themselves being entertained with live music as they walk through the terminal at Austin's airport after deplaning. But they shouldn't be. Live music, and music in many other forms, is everywhere in Austin. Musicians play in everything from grocery stores (Central Market, Whole Foods) to city council meetings. They play outdoors at the Blues on the Green series and at festivals: Austin City Limits and South by Southwest you've likely heard of, but there's also Pachanga Latino Musical Festival, Urban Music Festival, Fun, Fun, Fun Fest, Chaos in Tejas and many more worth checking out. Mostly, you'll find Austin musicians at clubs, coffeehouses, bars, taquerias, auditoriums and concert halls - and with more than 250 live music venues, it can be intimidating knowing where to start.....

250 live music venues. City the size of Auckland. Interesting.... 

Sea Level Rise = Situation Normal

This is the "world class" image of Takapuna Beach, North Shore. Only the odd seagull, kilometres of uninterrupted sand...

This picture of is from The Sands medium density housing development at the north end of Takapuna Beach. Still not so many walkers. In fact it's a very popular beach for locals and walkers alike...

I took most of the pictures that follow on Sunday 2nd February. Around 10:00am that day there was a king tide. The Sunday was the mid-point in a 3 day sequence of king tides....

The heightened sea level occupied the whole beach for an hour or so. People could still walk their dogs around the built edge of Takapuna Beach...

...walk their kids and buggies...

What needs to be noted is that if a low pressure weather pattern had coincided with this King Tide, and stronger easterly winds, the high tide level could have been more than 30 cms higher (deeper). Like 3 years ago.

....but it was quite a sight. Most people didn't know it was coming, so were surprised. People I spoke to told me they'd been coming for thirty years or more - to sunbathe and walk - and hadn't seen anything like it...

...like this guy, slightly disbelieving, what the f' ... canute-like....

...perplexed.  I was bit perplexed too. Got some outstanding questions. Yesterday I checked my favourite website for Auckland tides (marineweather) and it had indicated there would be a 2.6 metre height difference between low tide and high tide. Being a recreational fisher, I know that is the sign of a reasonably small tidal change. Certainly not a king tide.....

....a 2.6 metre tide wouldn't look quite like this, but a lot of beach would be free of sea. Not sure what was going on with those charts....apparently king tides are predictable. For reasonably definitive tide charts check out these tables. You can see there that for Sunday, 2nd Feb, the low tide height at Auckland was predicted at 0.09 metres, and the high tide level was predicted to be 3.64 metres at 10:08 am Sunday morning. This is equivalent to a tidal throw of 3.55 metres (sea level height difference between low and high tide sea levels). 

When I was hunting around for tidal information I came across this website.Specially organised around Auckland King Tides. Sponsors and supporters include Auckland Council, NIWA, Civil Defence and Emergency, Auckland War Memorial etc. They planned to be present at the Takapuna Boat Ramp. For the big event....

And sure enough.  There they were.  Apparently the high tide level for the king tide is about what predictions show will be normal for high tides in 2064 because of climate change. When most people who were looking would no longer be on this earth I guess.... The US EPA's fact sheet asks:   

WHY OBSERVE KING TIDES?
King tides provide a glimpse of future everyday water levels, and
they are a way to communicate local sea level rise impacts over
long time periods. Low-lying shoreline development is at increased risk of flooding because of rising seas, and public investments in infrastructure, housing, and habitat restoration projects are often expected to last for decades. Highlighting king tides in a community can raise awareness of potential sea level rise impacts and identify flood-prone locations. The increased understanding of how sea level rise will impact local resources is valuable information for community decisionmakers.

People were interested. But I wondered what the aim of the King Tide communications and campaign was. A couple of weeks ago, the cover story in the 16th January 2014 Listener Magazine, reported the research of American Psychologist Daniel Goleman. It was entitled: "Centre of Attention", and was about how modern day distractions affect our ability to focus and concentrate. (About his latest book: Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence.) Well into the story we learn that Goleman's own focus is on climate change, and human psychology. He argues that human brains are not built to cope with threats that evolve slowly - like climate change. Our "fight or flight" responses don't kick in. That climate change is happening slowly enough for our brains to "normalise" it. He is researching ways that human intuitive response might be got round - by education and such like - but it's hard to escape the truth of his finding.

We act like frogs in slowly heating water. We don't jump out. Or do anything about it.
And when it's hot enough to kill us, we're past being able to do anything about it.

So I did wonder what the "KingTide" campaign was all about. Is the plan to help communities adjust to climate change, a type of social adaptation strategy, by normalising a king tide and thereby encourage people to accept it?
Coming to a place near you soon. Not much that can be done, nothing that you can do.

Get used to it.
An interesting moral challenge.