Values rooted in our survival

The Taupo Quay tree protest represents something fundamental. Photo/File

Something important has been going on in Whanganui in recent weeks.

In the cause of altering the streetscape and improving essential services in Taupo Quay our council decided that most of the 130-year-old plane trees growing there should go.

In various ways, tree lovers in the community have made their opposition known and, at time of writing, there has been a stay of "execution" for some of the trees.

On the face of it, this looks like a classic tussle between a local authority and conservationists. However, I want to suggest that this conflict represents something much more fundamental.

What is at issue here is how we humans tend to relate to nature.

By and large we take a utilitarian approach - we see the natural world as being there for our good, our comfort, our convenience. If it doesn't fit our needs and wants in any way, we'll dig it up or knock it down - or, in some way, make nature suit us.

There are countless examples of this. We build super-highways through rainforests, destroy natural eco-systems by creating vast monocultural expanses (for example, the almond "forests" of California), and turn naturally dry country into dairy farms by over-exploiting water resources.

Our utilitarian approach is reinforced by our economic model which depends on limiting the cost of things and maximising the profit. It reduces everything to having a material value, and thereby neglects or ignores anything with an aesthetic or non-material value. Everything is given a "price" but not a "value".

Fortunately, the world of commerce has begun to wake up. It has developed what is sometimes called the "triple bottom line" - an idea that encourages and enables businesses to consider the costs and benefits of social (human) and environmental factors as well as economic.

A short-hand way of describing this is "people/planet/profit".

Naturally the Wanganui District Council must think of ways to maximise the structural and physical benefits in Taupo Quay, while minimising the costs to its ratepayers. Any council doing its job would do the same - after all, they represent the wants and wishes of the community.

However, some of us are suggesting that there are other things of value here, not just the costs and benefits of having certain physical services in the ground.

How do we put a value on the amenity provided by large leafy trees (and even if the leaves create problems in the autumn)? Do we devalue them by saying: "We'll have trees so long as they are convenient to us."

As the planet's dominant species, in many ways we continue to behave as if the planet is ours to do with what we like - to do what is most beneficial and convenient for us.

The so-called "tree-huggers" among us are not necessarily just tree lovers, but Earth lovers. We are saying that the health and wellbeing of Gaia (the planet) and her species is not only our responsibility, but is the best way to ensure our own continuing survival.

Philip McConkey, a father of three and grandfather of five, has been active in the helping professions for 40 years. He is a Green Party member because he concurs with its values.