Conservation comment: Time to think about children's future

Ignoring what's best for our native fauna - and importing alien species - will only end badly for all of us, writes Rob Butcher

"Nature cannot be conquered but by obeying her." (Francis Bacon, 1561-1626)
From the comments in the letters column it is obvious that readers have strong feelings about evolution. Darwin's books were published more than 100 years ago and are still in print.
Scientific discoveries since then confirm evolution as the probable method of survival and propagation of all life on Earth. Confirmation includes fossil discoveries, DNA research, geological studies and medical research.
Genetic studies and work by archaeo-logists indicate that life on Earth began about four billion years ago, beginning with cyanobacteria, and evolved from them. Incredibly, (according to Bill Bryson in his book, A Short History of Nearly Everything) these organisms still survive and can be seen at Sharks Bay in Western Australia.
A frequent comment I hear is: "If we really came from apes, we would see half-way apes and intermediate forms of humans."
This is an astute observation, but testing this hypothesis requires us to consider the length of time involved. In human terms of time, hundreds or thousands of years, we would see no change, but in the time scale of our world, which is "deep time" measured in millions of years, the differences are apparent. A natural history museum will show ape fossils, which are a few million years old and different to our modern ape species. You may examine a fossilised skeleton of our own ancestor, Homo erectus, from a few million years ago. Compare that with a human skeleton, and you will see the evolutionary changes.
And yet the stromatolites in Sharks Bay, mentioned above, have barely changed in four billion years. This is because their environment has remained supportive of their lifestyle.
We humans have learned many of nature's secrets. We have discovered cures for many diseases, antibiotics that fight bacteria, genetic modification and other technologies. These techniques should be wonderful, but we are abusing them by using them against nature.
An example that is close to my heart is the fact that our Government is proposing to import honey from Australia, even though antibiotics are used freely by Australian beekeepers. We NZ beekeepers do not use antibiotics and can produce enough honey to supply local and overseas markets, but politicians say they must satisfy free trade agreements (and make a nice profit, of course).
Millions of Indians have recently been found to be immune to antibiotics. Britain has just announced that its cancer rate is rising. Antibiotic immunity would be a probable death sentence for many common infections.
It is time to take notice of scientists and conservationists and protect the future of our children as evolution intended.
Rob Butcher is a retired engineer, beekeeper and passionate conservationist.