Mountains to the sea

There is a Māori phrase “Ki uta, ki tai” which translates as “From the mountains to the sea”.  The words reflect their holistic landscape-level view of the natural world.  It’s music to an ecologist’s ears!  The land, sky and sea are all connected and give and borrow resources and forces from each other.

This ICM from Dunedin Botanic Garden speaks to me of the same connectivity.  The land and trees to the left are flowing through the sky and land, before eventually ending in the sea to the right and bottom.  Nutrients and water and energy follow that same path in their giant lumbering ecological cycles of breakdown and renewal.

The intense colour and solidity of forms in the photograph reminds me that we shouldn’t mess with the forces revealing themselves here.

The image itself was a complete surprise. I was delighted.

There are two Extra Photos of the same tone that emphasize the revolving ecological cycles to me. Together they represent 8th, 9th and 10th in the "Tunnel Vision" series (beginning on 4th and 5th November on my primary Blip account, EcoShutterBug).