Systems and Cycles
Maramataka
Tangāroa-a-kiokio or Tangāroa Whāriki Kiokio
According to my maramataka guide we are in the middle of a high energy phase of the moon, honestly I haven't felt this shattered in a very long time. It could be that W has adjusted well to daylight saving and woke before 7.30am both mornings over the weekend... She used to sleep in until 8.30/9am.
On reflection I have looked at my notes from my "Ngā Mata o te Marama", my maramataka tracker I got from www.tuhi.co.nz and in July when I started following the maramataka I was indeed shattered over this phase of the moon! If you don't follow the effects of the moon phases and how you personally react to them I highly encourage you to look in to it. W is pretty predictable with the energy from te Marama, and I know when to expect late late nights and when to go with the flow on her energy and not fight it.
Our phase today in Aotearoa is Tangāroa-a-Kiokio, a time of high production and high energy (for some). A time to move in a way that will benefit your whānau, hapū, iwi or community; build your strength. Do the things that need to be done, complete that to do list you made the other week. Get in the water, fish or swim; get in the māra, plant or tend. Replenish what is needed for the upcoming new moon phase.
Me pukumahi! - Be productive
 |
| Here is me shattered and starting the day bright and early... This is my Maramataka tracker though! Check out Tuhi, they have heaps of resources for your maramataka journey |
Plant ID is done - here comes sustainability and growth
I completed the Plant Identification and Selection course on Saturday, clicking submit on my Plant selection assessment that morning. I really enjoyed this course and really enjoyed learning some of the botanical names - ultimately Latin. I enjoyed it so much I am now learning Latin on Duolingo (move over 255 days of Spanish and French...). This course really made me take a step back when looking at plants and seeds that I want to add to my container garden, as stated before I used to buy plants purely based on their appearance now I know I need to look at the area I am planning to utilise and decide on the plant that would best thrive there and provide what I am looking for in return.
This new course I am starting today is the ge course in my Horticulture qualification and at the end of it I should have a knowledge of natural systems and sustainable techniques for plant growth.
Natural Systems and Cycles
We live on an amazing planet that provides numerous natural resources - some renewable and some non-renewable; although I would argue that these are all non-renewable if we don't adjust how we as humans live to work and consume not live to care and be concsious.
The following is an example of natural resources listed in this new module:
Renewable:
- Plants/timber
- Air
- Water
- Sunlight
- Land/soil
Non-renewable:
- Oil
- Coal
- Minerals
- Natural gas
- Salt
This is where I want to argue that our natural resources are really all non-renewable. Once our oceans, rivers and lakes are all so polluted and all our marine life and reefs have been ruined we can't renew our water. Once our air is full of smog and toxic smoke, and we have cut down all our air cleaning trees we can't renew it. If we keep putting chemicals and rubbish into our land and soil and all that crap has leached into our whenua plants will struggle to thrive and there is our plant life and land ruined and unable to renew. All these natural resources are not guaranteed, we need to live in a way we are conscious of the renewability of our most essential natural resources - air, water, sun and soil.
Our planet is amazing in providing these natural resources for all creatures living and breathing, natural services are provided to ensure everything functions smoothly together. Our trees clean our air, plants can filter water, the millions of microorganisms breaking down organic matter and creating lush nutrient rich soil. there are bugs and birds that balance out the pest threats in the māra. Things in nature have a purpose that all works together to keep our natural world in balance.
Natural systems constantly respond to change. Processes that change the system are called feedback and they can increase or decrease a change.
- A positive feedback loop leads to a system changing further in that direction i.e. it amplifies the change.
- A negative feedback loop leads to a system changing further in the opposite direction i.e. this corrects or decreases the change.
Positive feedback
An example of positive feedback (amplifying the problem) is:- If the atmosphere warms, it melts the ice
- Ice is light reflective and bounces most of the light back out to space
- When ice melts, the darker coloured ground or water remains, and this absorbs the heat & re-radiate it into the atmosphere
- Greenhouse gasses absorb the heat warming the atmosphere even more.
Negative feedback loop
Even when the surface temperature increases as a result of human activities, there can still be a negative feedback that results in some amount of cooling.For example, as the surface temperature of the Earth increases there are increased levels of evaporation from the oceans. This increased evaporation results in more clouds forming in the lower atmosphere. These clouds in turn reflect some incident solar radiation back into space, slightly decreasing the surface temperature.
Some deep questions for you to ponder...
- Are our environmental conditions maintained in a state of equilibrium? In other words, do environmental systems tend to exist in stable states (or are they disrupted by human activity, which environmental processes can humans work on to restore those systems)?
- Or, alternatively, are environmental systems unstable (chaotic), with no particular equilibrium state to which they tend to revert?
- Or, in yet another possibility, are environmental systems semi-chaotic - displaying stability under certain conditions, but becoming unstable if certain thresholds are exceeded?
Activity: "The effects of humankind" video review.
Reviewing this video from Chris Lundberg (2013) we are tasked to list the impacts we notice that are created directly by humans.
rubbish
burning - smog
cutting trees
expanding urban areas
populations booming
altering natural landscape
polluting oceans
killing forests
'we leave a wasteland in our wake'
consume and chuck, consume and chuck
I have always known we as humans leave a path of destruction wherever we step, I grew up watching David Attenborough and endless documentaries; I watch the news and see storm after storm, hurricane after hurricane, fire after fire and this is only in the last month! One thing I loved to see during our level 4 rāhui here in Aotearoa was Papatānuku got a moment to breathe deep breaths again. The birds were singing everywhere, the skies were clear, our oceans were resting. We can give our planet breaks like this, we are capable of it, we don't need to be take and grab and disregard all the time. And New World has shown that there is a huge drive for whānau across the mōtu to collect, grow and nurture plant life and teach this passion to their kids. The future is not doom and gloom, we can give back to Papatūānuku, we can plant plants that benefit us and the entire biodiverse food pyramid. There is no planet B but there is today and we can change tomorrow for the better.
Update on our māra
We had another stash of Little Garden's to plant this weekend. I did want to hold off on planting these but W was keen as beans to get her kākano into soil - I did trim the seed mats so we have some to plant again at a later date and we won't have an overabundance of kai once these little gardens are planted in to big gardens.
We are also attempting to attract a monarch butterfly to lay one or two eggs on our swan plants. W, myself and the husband sat on the lawn for close to two hours yesterday watching the butterflies come closer and closer - flirting with the plants but not landing. Today I have the mesh cover off and hoping we will catch an egg our two while I do study nearby - to supervise that we are gifted a manageable amount of eggs!!
 |
| W adding broccoli, beetroot, cauliflower, chives and cherry tomatoes to her collection |
 |
| No eggs yet... |
 |
| Borage, watercress, kale, spinach and carrots growing strong |
 |
| Our baby basil's stretching to the sun |
Comments
Post a Comment