puff March 22nd

Envao 12
What is our environmental mind like in Aotearoa and the world right now?
The Christchurch Earthquake has taken our minds off the ball in some respects.

We are like stunned mullets.

Before Christchurch on February 22nd there was Pike River and after Christchurch there was the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear catastrophe in Japan. A good set of readings on the net from Technocrati is appended.

Our minds are so blasted apart by all this that Ken Ring the man in New Zealand who predicts earthquakes by the moon is featured on the news. The fact that Ring has a general accuracy is as unnerving as anything else. There is a sense that our science, especially the science of prediction, has failed us.

How do we start thinking about all this? Where to begin?

We know a bit about earthquakes or at lease we thought we did in New Zealand. It feels as though we know worse than nothing right now...

Is there any memory of tsunami in this country?

Actually there is very little in mythology but there is Bruce McFadgen’s geo-historical work (2008) about tsunamis and the ways in which coastal communities were and, by imlication, still are at the mercy of the elements.

McFadgen is talking about the fifteenth century and in the light of what has happened in recent years in Indonesia, Samoa and Japan his work might be important for New Zealand

Then there is the nuclear catastrophe in Japan. We are not exempt from this because of wind. Are we getting wind readings or warnings or analyses of any kind about fallout travelling by wind to Japan and elsewhere? There are reports in from California of higher readings.

What can we do to help people in Japan? We are simply not used to environmental catastrophes of this scale. The disaster itself is too big to comprehend as are the attendant questions to do with aid, the economy and other matters.

Basically we are not thinking ahead. And that is the state of our environmental mind in Aotearoa/New Zealand right now.

Bibliography
McFadgen, B.G. 2008 Hostile Shores: Catastrophic Events in Prehistoric New Zealand and Their Impact on Maori Coastal Communities, Auckland University Press.
Appendix
On Technorati:
Japan has been on everyone's mind this week, and Technorati's writers are no different than anyone else, having written a wide array of reports on various aspects of the tragedy. In the Lifestyle Channel, Chirstine Vega covers what the disaster means to the United States, Doug Wallace talks about what parts of the disaster's coverage should be shared with children, and Alice Elliott Brown explains why experts are saying that the fear of radiation may be doing more damage than the radiation itself.
Meanwhile, the Business Channel, has coverage on Japan from John Egan, who rounds up a list (hopefully incomplete, as much as we want TR to be the be-all and end-all) of North American businesses that have committed to helping out with the disaster, while in the Women Channel, Kim Bauer talks about the wake-up call for preparation the Japan earthquake has been for her and her family.


March 22 Tues
Te moana me te ngahere
Te ngahere ki Awapuni
Rangahau
He korero mo te ngahere ki Awapuni.
Subject of the day
Native bush in Awapuni
Analysis
A discussion of the native bush in Awapuni.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awapuni,_Manawatu-Wanganui