OPINION:I live at the Marlborough Sounds. This waterway is stunning and covers an amazing 20% of the coastline in New Zealand, Aotearoa.
It is a privilege to be able see it every day and to sail on it, but I wish it could more closely resemble the wonders from bygone eras.
It has towering beech, rimu and totara. It has birdsong. Captain James Cook described as The most wild and melodious music he’d ever heard. And there are lobsters so prolific their feelers are visible at low tide.
Other people think the same.
There are volunteer groups Removal of wilding pinesWagering War on pestsTo Help native birdlife to recover. We have, of course. Fishing regulationsThis was done to avoid overfishing
These volunteer groups are often very active. You can work togetherWith an over-stretched Department of Conservation
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It is amazing what can be achieved. But it never seems enough.
Usually, we call all this effort conservation.
We understand conservation to mean what some other people do, to protect the natural world. However, it must be balanced against our many economic, recreational, and sadly, societal demands.
Is this just hand-wringing or something more? We shouldn’t think so.
The United Nations has now declared that Global environmental degradation and loss in biodiversity are so advanced and It is so importantThey should be considered alongside the dangers posed by climate change.
Also, the very Habitability of the planet is at Risk.
It seems reasonable to conclude that our relationship to the natural world is dysfunctional. In this regard, we must include Marlborough Sounds.
I recently came across an entirely different kind of idea, which seemed very relevant and valuable.
It was the idea of a botanist and distinguished professor of environmental biology in New York State. Robin Wall Kimmerer.
Kimmerer is also a renowned photographer. A Potawatomi Nation memberShe is an expert exponent of modern science and draws on her heritage and unique relationship to the natural world in her teaching and research.
All plants, trees, fish, birds, and insects in that world, along with the rivers and lakes, are These are gifts to people.
It is a powerful idea to give a gift.
It is a sign of a special relationship when we give and receive gifts. The heart of any genuine relationship is the gift. She believes that reciprocity is an idea..
You give to my heart and I give to yours.
This philosophy and practice gave rise to the somewhat disparaging European adage of the Indian giver, which reflected a European view that if you give a gift, you should not expect, as Indians apparently did, that in due course they might receive it back. We were misunderstood.
The reason the idea of reciprocity is very important, is that it would entail obligations on us individually to the natural world every day, and in virtually everything we do.
Take the Sounds to Easter.
Many families brought boats to spend time on the water. As they should.
Many caught blue cod and rock lobsters, as they are entitled to do.
They received many gifts from the Sounds, including fish, scenery, and the experience of being on water.
When we think about reciprocity, it asks each person who sets sail what they gave in return.
Greg Billington/Supplied
Greg Billington wonders, if a visit to a pwakawaka fantail (New Zealand) was his gift for giving back the environment.
We know for example that the Sounds’ bottom is heavily sedimented from heavy run-off caused by the heavy pine forest milling on the hills.
We know that the habitat of the beautiful eagle is being degraded. Hectors dolphin is becoming more rare..
We all know it is becoming increasingly difficult to catch enough fish to feed a family without first killing many small, undersized fish. These fish don’t survive the waiting shags.
On a fine Easter Day, it is likely that our collective investment in the boats we take out is measurable in many millions of dollars, and individually, in tens of thousands.
Kimmerer would be interested in knowing what we have given back.
In a coastline approximately 1800km long, we have two no-take marine reserves totalling, more-or-less, just 8km or 0.44% of that coastline.
This tiny area is the entire protection we offer to the Sounds’ sea-life.
This is a very miserly gift from ours, in return for the abundance that we have long received but which we have allowed decline to be a shadow what was before.
The philosophy of native North Americans can guide us. Rather than relying on regulations or the efforts of greenies, we can ask ourselves – what have we reciprocated?
What gifts did we give in return?
It happens that we can start at home with the Mori concept of kaitiakitanga or guardianship.
Kaitiakitanga involves the same kind of connection to and responsibility as Kimmerer’s natural world.
It is not exploitative. It is a gifting relationship.
If we can change our dominant mindset, the idea of reciprocity, which is embedded in our daily lives may be the key.
world-view that land, sea, lakes, rivers, and all living creatures, are there for our use, pleasure
It is convenient.
This morning, a pwakawaka (New Zealand fantail) perched on the stick I held in my hand, for a chat. I took this to be an act of reciprocity, in return for helping eradicate its predators.
I might be imagining things.
