​10 Green Commitments 

Protect nature (continued)

 

Taking the example of the Aborigines, Sveiby and Skuthorpe write in ‘Treading lightly’ (19):

 

‘To (them), the role of humanity was to maintain the world created in the Burruguu and to keep everybody and everything alive, including animals, vegetation, every feature of the earth,   knowledge…’  

 

‘Spiritual life was much more significant than material life … Instead of putting their surplus energy into squeezing more food out of the land, Aborigines expended it  on intangibles, spiritual, intellectual, and artistic activities… their cathedrals were built in their minds and they felt no need to glorify human heroes’  

        

The authors credit the Aboriginal society’s model for sustainability as the longest proven track record on earth… until the Europeans’ arrival in 1788.     

 

In the 2014 NZ election, only the Maori party proposed a reforestation programme of some 100 000 hectares over ten years. Indigenous reforestation is vital of course but the benefit will only accrue many decades down the line.