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Ecosystems and Environments

by Morley West

We have recently noticed the mass media reporting people advocating animal culling from various environmental areas of New Zealand. Suggestions such as the culling of fur seals as they are consuming too many hoki, leaving the Kaimanawa horses as a few hectares of tussock are insignificant, introducing the rabbit virus as kiwis "can't possibly be affected as they live in the bush away from rabbits" are clear indications of a lack of understanding of the way the natural ecosystems of which we are a part really do function.

How can we become better educated about such matters? How can we recognise an ecosystem under stress? How can we learn to work within the balance of nature? What does "the balance of nature" really mean? How do we as members of an ecosystem make decisions about environmental management -- the costs, the future, possible modifications? The reality is that most of us probably do not even ask these questions let alone become seriously involved in personal everyday environmental practices.

Dr Claudia Bell recently wrote a book, Inventing New Zealand: Everyday Myths of Pakeha Identity, in which she includes amongst a number of myths "the most beautiful scenery in the world". If you believe what the tourist advertising material boldly states, go and have a careful and critical look at the reality. Don't go far -- just a few metres from the road edge, down the nearest bank, the backwater of the lake, the estuary, will all give you food for thought. What does one see? The results of us putting stress on our environment, our ecosystems, our indigenous plants and animals, and our history are everywhere; casual dumping of rubbish and weeds, ill-conceived landfills, smashing down of historic buildings and degradation of historic sites. The list could easily go on.

How can environmental attitudes and practices be changed? By education. During October 1973 Norman Kirk recognised the need for a fresh look at the education of ecological awareness, but it has taken until quite recently for the rewriting of national science prescriptions to give educators the ability to give more than a token gesture to environmental education. Not just education about the environment but by people becoming committed to action whilst learning.

Over the last few years, such a committment that has been made within a number of our local high schools towards the environmental restoration of Mokoia Island. Students from Rotorua Girls' High, Western Heights High and Rotorua Lakes High School, along with the Department of Conservation, Massey University and the Mokoia Island Trust Board, have been steadily working away at the removal of pest species (rats, goats, mice) and the introduction of protected species (robins, saddlebacks, stitchbirds, kiwi). As time and money becomes available the list will continue; lizards, giant snails, various insects, a number of plant species are all future candidates.

However the project could come to a premature halt. The local public, the visiting tourists, you and me, all play a vital part. Someone could unwillingly put stress back on this fragile ecosystem; the reintroduction of pests, interference with nesting birds, the cessation of ongoing goodwill or financial support. Why is this so? Environmental management inevitably involves money, and lots of it! As the Lakes High students who put the Stitchbird Transfer Proposal together clearly now realise, big money is involved. A budget for transferring a single rare stitchbird is around $1,000. Value judgements obviously come into play.

Environmental planners and managers, whether professionals or local high school students, have not only value judgements to make. There is also the awareness, the knowledge, the attitudes, the possible participation and the evaluation ablity by the individual, the recreational user groups, the local community, to develop.

So why bother to put so much effort into this exciting, creative, new way of teaching high school students environmental and conservation biology? In our rapidly changing world where there is a real risk of technological impersonisation and short term political outlook for financial gain, skills in humanising science and technology are becoming increasingly important for students leaving high school. Yet many do leave with very limited knowledge, little confidence, poor attitudes and interest in the subject. Many educators, politicians and business people often make comment that our students are being ranked low in standardised tests in developing countries. Such comment is most counterproductive. Thinking students do want to see the connection between the "classroom" and the real world. They do see the value in an opportunity to pursue a science problem in depth, to make a real contribution. Student input into the ecological restoration of Mokoia Island is certainly fostering such values.

It is also doing far more. The students who are our future community members, decision makers, perhaps even politicians, are learning by putting into practice new, creative, yet absolutely essential attitudes towards our unique ecosystems; the matter that tourists come to see, to enjoy, to absorb, to go back home and talk about. A considerable portion of the country's future income does depend upon our "clean and green" environment -- biotechnology, food technology, eco-recreation and ecotourism depends on not only our students, but also you and me, developing good environmental practice.

As Raewyn Kingsley-Smith (Mill Watch member) recently said bluntly, "There's no jobs on a dead planet."

Morley West teaches at Rotorua Lakes High School.