Round the block in autumn
About 150 years ago, our founding fathers clear-felled the Wairarapa. No mean feat for people armed with axes and lumber saws. And fire. A few squillion hectares of mature totara forest completely removed. The only reminders that it ever existed are a few hand-hewn battens and fence posts.
Such was their pioneering zeal they even rounded up a bunch of axe-wielders from Scandinavian nations, such as Denmark, to give them a hand. We should be thankful that they didn’t have chainsaws, or every standing twig in the country would have been flattened to make way for ruminant animals.
Not that there is anything intrinsically wrong with ruminant animals. They’re a bunch of compliant herbivores that make a pretty good job of feeding and clothing people, despite recent bad press about the alleged evils of enteric fermentation. And they’re ideally suited to the hydroponics environment that is New Zealand agriculture. Refrigerated ocean transport, aerial topdressing and the Bowen technique all played their part in elevating New Zealand to the top of its game and, as recently as the early 1960s, making it one of the world’s richest and most educated nations.
Feeding and clothing the world. Sounds like a simple mission statement. But one that has been conspired against by international trade regulation, the tyranny of distance, “consumerism” and the barking mad amongst us. Yet for the sake of a New Zealand that can provide for the needs and aspirations of future generations, just as bloody well!
The simpler, more gentle age that some yearn fondly for was a myth. It was exploitive, repressive, misogynistic, homophobic, sycophantic and naďve. It may have made us “rich”, but at what cost?
Watching vast swathes of our country being washed out to sea every time we get a heavy downpour, or watching lakes and rivers dying from nutrient run-off is not something I enjoy. And it’s not sustainable. And it may be too late to back up the truck of permanent environmental damage.
Yet New Zealand still relies on primary production systems and will for the foreseeable future. Our future prosperity will not lie with feature films, tourism, GPS technology or ethnic basket weaving. But if we’re going to be sensible about this there needs to be a bunch of sobering up across the spectrum that comprises this nation’s influencers and decision-makers.
Can we ever regain the relative economic riches we enjoyed 40 years ago? Probably not. Going “there” would come at a cost we cannot afford. But with the right focus we can make New Zealand a damned fine place to live and ensure that it can endure for our grandchildren, and their grandchildren. More than any other, it is the responsibility of this generation of New Zealand decision-makers to get things right. Good luck and resourcefulness may have served us well in the past but “she’ll be right” cannot be the mantra for our future.
Our ride on Saturday 3 June: Round-the block, via Martinborough and Alfredton. Perfect autumn riding (apart from damp moss patches in a few places), not too cold, no wind. Both bikes and their riders were well pleased to be on the road again, doing what they enjoy most of all. There were surprisingly few other riders out and about. Maybe all were Brass Monkeying?
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Originally Posted by Hitcher
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