Listening to the Land

Listening to the Land

by Laura Goodall

Pauline Harris is a scientist of Rongomaiwahine and Ngāti Kahungunu descent. Like many scientists, she’s been listening to communities from around the world report on the effects of climate change. “Indigenous people who live in really cold places like Alaska have already talked about unusual changes in their environment. Lakes are thawing out earlier than they used to. Mosquitoes are hatching earlier and growing faster.” These reports made Pauline wonder whether Māori communities might be aware of similar changes in Aotearoa. Could climate change be affecting how our wildlife behaves?

To answer this question, Pauline is working with a team of researchers to visit iwi and hapū throughout the country. The mātauranga held by these communities extends back hundreds of years. It could reveal insights into how our plants and animals acted in the past – and how these activities are changing now.

Often when we read, we come across words which we do not understand or have never seen before. With each word in red from the text above. Write down the sentence they were used in and what you understand the meaning to be from the sentence. 

Word	Sentence	What I think it means
climate change	Like many scientists, she’s been listening to communities from around the world report on the effects of climate change.	It means Pauline has been listening to the communities and it affects the climate changes .
Indigenous people	Indigenous people who live in really cold places like Alaska have already talked about unusual changes in their environment	The first person to change the environment  .
hatching	hatching earlier and growing faster.	Is that they are hatching really faster.
mātauranga	The mātauranga held by these communities extends back hundreds of years. It could reveal insights into how our plants and animals acted in the past – and how these activities are changing now.	Is a education .

There are a lot of words in Te Reo Maori in the text. Find the meaning of the Te Reo Maori words in this table.

Here is the link to a Maori dictionary to help you. 

Word	Meaning
Matauranga	Education is  an extension of the original.
Maramataka	Maori  lunar  calendar planting and fishing monthly.
Pipiri	Is the first Lunar month of the Maori year.
Hongonui	Second lunar month  of the Maori year .
Rongomaiwahine	Rongomaiwahine is a Maori Iwi traditionally .
Kahungunu	Tribal group of the Southern  North Island  east of the rangers .
Here-turi-koka	August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendar .
takurua	Sirius , the dog star .
koanga	Be Spring and time planting in spring
raumati	To be summer
ngahuru	Used in a similar way to tekau less frequently with other words to form the numbers to 11-19 .

From our discussions

What do you understand about these words from our discussions?

Word	Meaning
Phenology	timing of Animal and Plants
Pollinate	Bees are collecting nectar  and transporting them somewhere else
Gregorian calendar	The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used the most of the world .
Ecosystems	The biological community of  interacting .
Indigenous people	inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment.

Question for discussion

Do we really need these academic words? Yes we do because it helps with these words . It's also used in science . 

What is your response?people  can use these Academic words and learn from the past  on what the meaning of these words is .