During the war there was a unique social ethos. Everyone, or nearly so, wanted to "do their bit".
If you weren't marching into battle you put your shoulder to the common wheel in the name of victory. Those that went through the crisis speak - or spoke - fondly of this selfless collective and spirit.
Today such a spirit is vital if we are to save the planet. Instead, finger-pointing and the dumping of responsibility on another sector is all too common.
A - no, the - prime target for our environmental woes is the farmer, especially the cattle farmer. The result is that the town/country divide is the widest it's been for years.
This is frustrating our environmental aspirations, and thus our obligations to hand over a more sustainable Hawke's Bay to those who follow. Never before has our region demanded more urgent environmental leadership. This must come from the regional council.
A decade ago representation of local government was changed to that based only on population. That need not be a concern, as an empathy with rural issues and problems and obligations inside the farm gate is what's important in council deliberations; not practical experience, though, naturally, that helps.
It seems that some councillors are completely indifferent to building relationships with the farming sector.
The primary producer, who manages about 65 per cent of our land (most of the rest being in conservation estate), is the primary practical custodian of our environment.
But ultimately we're all in this together as economic production from the raising of exotic plants and animals necessitates a profound modification of the land. This production is the fountainhead of our national wealth and affluence, and its promotion has been public policy since government was established.
Yes, farmers are polluters, but then we all are, directly and indirectly. Does the consumer of dairy products, let alone through the consuming of the goods imported from its export earnings, have any responsibility for the pressure that a dairy cow places on the environment?
It is easy to identify fault, but we need to recognise the undoubted strides that farmers are making to accommodate the environment to economic production, often at considerable cost.
Remember, the Kiwi farmer is the only one in the developed world unsubsidised - as well as the best.
In travelling around the country I'm always impressed by the high standard of farm and orchard/vineyard custodianship. True, there is eroding hill country, substandard water quality, and out of control weeds in areas. But our man-made landscape is beautiful - and earns tourist dollars, as well as producing food and fibre.
Okay, more needs to be done, and it will be. But Blimp-like posturing by armchair - or keyboard - environmentalists prompts hostility rather than goodwill, and jeopardises goodwill, so vital in a free society.
And nor will hyperbolic, usually anonymous, rhetoric - just look at the absurd descriptions of the Tukituki for instance.
We must collectively address this compelling environmental challenge, especially the reality of man-induced climate change, for it is totally a community cause.
The regional council must develop a comprehensive visionary plan that excites the public, and a determination to rally the community to the cause of our future. It needs to include an imaginative regional tree-planting component for a start.
Unfortunately the dam debate has sapped the intellectual energy of the wider environmental imperative in both the council and the wider public. Ensuring the planet's ability to sustain life requires a total commitment. It seems hard to wax optimistic, but despairing we must never be.
- Ewan McGregor is a former deputy chairman of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council.
