Page 9 - 2008 NZ Subantarctic Islands

stood 12 feet high and weighed in excess of 550 lbs. The eagle

could attack at 50 mph which facilitated its hunting of the huge
moas. Besides these very large birds, many smaller species were

also pushed to extermination by the exotic predators. The
national emblem of New Zealand is the strange kiwi bird, a

flightless creature whose feathers look more like fur and whose
nostrils are at the end of its beak, the sole bird in the world with
that distinction. Even this bird had almost disappeared before

human beings took notice of the precipice on which its fate
teetered. Some species were lost before policies and actions

could protect them.
As if to counterbalance this dismal past, another stage in

evolution has come to pass in New Zealand. Human beings have
become aware of their responsibility for the natural world and

have decided to sacrifice time, treasure, development, and even
some rights in order to restore their country to its paradisiacal
past, at least as much as it is possible to do so. This is indeed a

huge mutation in the human genome—one that appreciates the
physical beauty of nature, the interconnectedness of all life on

earth, and works to protect the earth rather than exploit it in
every way possible. This mutation has helped New Zealand create

a public policy that is already allowing recovery in plants and
animals, bringing some threatened species back from the brink

and supporting others that are still in danger.

Today the NZ human being has evolved past most of his fellow

humans in this area; he has become the steward of the earth
rather than the exploiter, the restorer rather than the plunderer,

and the sharer of earth’s blessings with all the life-forms he
encounters rather than the selfish total consumer of every good

thing. Now there’s an evolutionary change we could wish on all
humanity!

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