Video
Beyond the farm and the theme park
Paul Callaghan - 2007 RSNZ Distinguished Speaker
Converting most of our forest into greenhouse gas has given us an abundance of grass and a thriving dairy industry. Yet through good fortune and some wise heads, we have, notwithstanding attempts to subdue it, sufficient residual natural environment to claim the label "clean and green".
Our landscape is magnificent and helps define who we are. But this lecture will argue that we have the potential to be a great deal more besides, and that we must be if we are to build the society we want our children to thrive in. It will argue that we can enhance our prosperity through sensible investment in science and technology, coupled with culture change.
The first part is the easy bit. The second requires self-belief and a sense of purpose. David Lange once said New Zealand's destiny was to be a theme park (and Australia's, a quarry). We can surely think and act beyond that. Indeed New Zealand is such an interesting place to live precisely because we are so capable of determining our future.
