Too late

Re ‘Wetlands are important — every day’ (February 28).

How great that wetlands are being restored, but sadly, 200 years too late, as we have lost much fauna and flora, along with many organisms, allowing much

sediment and pollution into our natural drains, rivers, harbours and ocean.

Many thanks to those who have come to realise that nature provides our existence on this planet, not money.

What can I say apart from the fact that many believe in progress by increased production, but it comes at a far greater price, than the returns, with the deconstruction of our ecosystem in the long-term?

New Zealand needs to stop this insanity that we are the food bowl of the world, with dairy, sheep, beef, fruit, vegetables, timber etc, as there will come a time when we destroy our land as it burns out with overuse of fertilisers, poisoned with chemicals, degrading of our air with pollution and degrading of our waters.

I ask myself, why should I care at my stage of life? The answer to that is that my walk through history is so short, and I owe my future generation something to be proud of that I have nurtured and passed on to them as an inheritance, having the right to enjoy the beauty and mystery of nature beyond our understanding that no amount of money can buy.

In the Bible, in the Book of James, Chapter 4, verse 13 to 17, I believe is very good advice. I will leave it up to the readers to look up, for their own good. The choice is theirs, but I believe it is very sound advice to us all, just as is everything else written in the Bible.

Whether one believes in evolution or a creator, the fact is we have only one planet, so we must take good care of it, and from what I read, hear and see, we are not doing a very good job of it.

Our present day selfishness and human desire will leave our future offspring inheriting a very troubled world and much debt and hardships, something that many families are already experiencing.

As Mother Theresa said many years ago “There is no better time to start making change than today, as yesterday has been and gone, tomorrow we may never see.” Sounds very good, wise advice to me. JOHN BASSETT

Diggers’ Valley