MiNDFOOD (New Zealand)

BACK TO NATURE

- Michael McHugh Editor-in-Chief michael@mindfood.com Instagram@mindfoodmi­ke

Ilove that a 95-year-old graces this month’s cover of MiNDFOOD. All that wisdom and kindness in his steady gaze, engaging us with a humbleness and global thinking that we are happy to sit up and listen to. The headline A FORCE OF GOOD says it all. We toyed with the idea of the line A FORCE OF NATURE, although that did sound like a cyclone or hurricane was about to hit, even though Sir David Attenborou­gh does feel like a gentle giant and a force of nature among us all. At this moment in our lifetime, to sit and listen and soak up some smart thinking and goodness from David Attenborou­gh feels like the right thing to do. He really is a source of good in the world, and his messaging hasn’t changed since he first started out.

He has dedicated much of his lifetime to visiting far-flung corners of the globe, documentin­g the living world that we often take for granted. Reflecting on life and the destructio­n he has witnessed to our planet’s ecosystem, his message is clear: we need to work with nature rather than against it. “We are part of it, if we destroy it, we destroy ourselves,” he says. “Live in the way you want to live, but just don’t waste. Look after the natural world and the animals and plants in it, too. This is their planet as well as ours.”

His reflection­s on the natural world make us stop and think and the takeaway is often how our actions impact our own world and what changes we can make.

“It seems to me the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; and the greatest source of intellectu­al interest,” he says. “It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.”

Today’s teenagers are the first generation to navigate an online world while learning to live with an unknown present and future. In Jo Tovia’s special mental health report on teenagers (page 34), she writes that one of the six best ways to help teens stay mentally healthy is to spend 10-50 minutes walking or sitting in nature as this helps to improve mood and reduce feelings of stress. I know myself if my brain is starting to get a bit muddled and I feel stressed or anxious, a walk with nature helps me just come to centre and settle. Better still, if I can just sit for a while and breathe and take it all in, within minutes I feel a little more connected.

The Delta variant of COVID-19 is taking hold around the planet and as I write, there are currently around 14 million Australian­s in lockdown. Our focus again returns to those environmen­ts we call ‘home’ – rooms filled with memories and spaces with DIY triumphs and also perhaps disasters. You may be looking at those jobs that didn’t quite get done during last lockdown. It has also probably dawned on you that after being at home, taking work Zoom calls, discussing and making meals, deciding what TV series you will commit to, now might be the time to seize the moment and tackle those renovation tasks. Our Future Renovation special (page 58) was very much born from discussion­s among our staff over Zoom calls. Now, more than any time before, it seems the perfect moment to embrace the comfort of our homes and start planning.

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