A slippery slope

The Hauraki Gulf is a vast expanse of water between Auckland, the Hauraki Plains, Coromandel Peninsula and Great Barrier Island. Under increasing environmental pressure, it is sliding further into decline in terms of water quality and biodiversity, according to the 2017 State of the Gulf report, released by the Hauraki Gulf Forum. But people tend to judge what they see and experience by the standards of the day. We see the world through the lens of our own experience, which allows us to continuously assimilate major changes to our environment until they become the new normal.

For instance, today’s pig and deer hunters stalking the forests of East Cape, largely denuded of undergrowth and bereft of native Century European explorers describe the New Zealand bush as loud with birdsong. Much has been lost.