Takoto kau ana te whanau a Tane
The descendants of Tane are laid low.
Tane is the god of forests. This is a plea for conservation.

We need a conservation ethic ... each one of us.
A conservation ethic is an ethic for life.
We need to ask ourselves ...
How do I see the earth and environment: dominion or stewardship or nonchalance?
How do I react to natural earth events such as earthquakes and tsunamis and eruptions:
a punishing Act of God, or a dynamic, living organism?

What are my responsibilities:
        preservation
        conservation
        renewal and restoration
        participation
        awareness
        knowledge
        compassion
        empathy?

As a consumer of limited earth's resources, how can I change my behaviours?
If I buy furniture, is it native timber or a renewable resource?
              is it newly harvested or recycled timber?
       is it new or second-hand?

If I buy books, do I plant a tree for every volume I purchase, thereby replacing this resource?
Do I consider how far products have travelled before I purchase them?
Buy local.
There is an increasing awareness of the goodness of creation,
a sense of the company of heaven's presence among us on earth.
Share these words from the hymn of St. Patrick:
"I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the star-lit heaven,
The glorious sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea
Around the old eternal rocks."
Philip Newell suggests that these words draw our attention
 to the goodness of what has been created,
and to the presence of the uncreated,
that is,
God.