UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • APRIL 2017 • 29 Living the Upbeat Life [KAITIAKITANGA]


SANTA ROSA, CA. ~ Q: Last year around this time, you wrote about pepper tree nuts and eating other natural, wild foods. You also penned a “Close To Home” rant in the Press Democrat about cigarette butt litter -!


What’s in store this year for Earth Day? -- Curious Pal in Sebastopol


A: Dear Curious


Pal, thanks for the reminders –LOL. My offering this year comes from notes I’d taken after reading about New Zealand’s Maori natives. I’d jotted


down an expression,


“kaitiaki tanga”: That’s kah- ee-tee-ah-kee tong-ah. It refers to taking care of things important “for the good of all the peo- ple,” e.g. land, animals, forests, seeds, wa- ter.


Google searches landed me on a great website


(http://www.teara. govt.nz/en/kaitiakitan- ga-guardianship-and- conservation/page-1). The Maori were east- ern


assure a more sustainable future for their decendants. –Sound familiar? So, “kai” refers to carrying out an act. “Tiaki” means “to guard…preserve, foster, protect and shelter.” A “kai tiaki” (kaitiaki) is a care- taker or a guardian --- a person, a family, a tribe or subtribe.


It


could even refer to a non human, for ex- ample, a bird acting as a sentry, warding


off intruders while its feathered fam- ily nibbles fruit from a tree.


the natural world,” with certain gods presiding over certain treasured do- mains.


The expression, “Kai-tiaki-tanga”


(and/or tonga or taonga) means to look after what is most treasured, and what tribal authorities deem should not be overlooked.


That could be


ecological philosophy, a conservation ploy, a family’s sacred ceremonial heirloom, or an actual piece of turf or waterway. [Think Standing Rock Sioux in N. Dakota.)


I was immediately drawn to Maori traditions, as I was years back, first hearing about the “web of life.” I was deeply exploring the awesome spiritual connection to “Turtle Island “/ Earth that many of our own continental Native American traditions afford.


It reso-


Polynesians who migrated before 1300 C.E. in waves, to New Zealand. Maori tribes to- day want to revive and preserve their ancient culture, and work its eco-conscious stewardship of the planet into N.Z.’s legal system to


“When you start to accept


responsibility for


the results you get in life, you also take back the


power to change your future


outcome.” Kevin Ngo


nated with me that all living things –even the tiniest and microscopic might serve a purpose in the ecology of the whole; that each of us is an expression of the Intelligent Love of Creator, and how each is a “relation” of mine. (Leaving me to this day to feel guilty if I ‘off’ a bee- tle that’s devouring my veggie garden… Sigh.)


Today kaitiaki- In Maori mythol- ogy, the original kaitiaki were ”gods of


tanga is reviving as Maori wisdom keepers and youth alike seek to honor, under- stand and apply it. They strive to re- pair damages done to wildlife, native plants and forests by both Maori set-


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tlers and European immigrants over the ages. They seek to restore the inti- mate relationship between the people and the natural world, teach the pro- tecting rituals and practices, and find the balances and restraints necessary for sustainability. This means treat- ing all other life forms with respect and reverence –not just human be- ings.


So for Earth Day,and every day,


let’s appoint ourselves stewards of our treasured soil, air, water. Let’s steer away from pesticides, and re- cycle, reuse, repurpose goods. Let’s de-litter, un-clutter, spring clean, detox and give thanks daily for po- table water, lovely flowers, oxygen from trees, fresh air, stars and moon, sun and rain. And eat more organic, whole foods,


In a word, let’s each be kaitiaki,


guardians of tanga –what we hold dearest. P.S. I’m proud to’ve writ- ten the first enviro kids’ book in 1991, Love Me, Love My Planet. Check it out?! Shining deLight, Marcia


Weird Facts & Fun Trivia - 5


For every person on earth, there are an estimated 200 million insects.


There are 2,000,000 million- aires in the United States.


Perhaps the most impressive example of a ‘quick’ reaction can be seen in the Mimosa pudica, which is to be found in the rainforest of Borneo and is known locally as the ‘sensitive plant’. If you touch the leaves it will shrink away from you within seconds.


The cause of the movement in the sensitive plant, ac- cording to experiments in American Universities in the 1960s, is a rapid influx of calcium into its cells.


Turnips grown using orange sheeting are much larger than those grown with black or clear plastic covers.


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