We Decline to Publish
For those interested, here is another letter that was written to the editor of the New Zealand Herald, which they have not published. It was submitted last week. This is the third letter that I and my colleagues have written to news media in order to defend science and education. None were published.
Our motives are honourable. Indeed, we want to do the right thing in defending the integrity of our education system and protecting science from being reduced to the level of “other ways of knowing” of scattered communities of the distant past.
Misinforming the Public
We refer to an article in the Waikato Herald of 14 July 2023 - Can Māori knowledge of moon phases help farm resilience? Bay of Plenty farmers gather to learn (Smith, 2023).
Apparently, farmers were among a group that spent two days on the Te Kūiti Pā, being guided through the Māori lunar calendar at a “first-of-its-kind workshop”. They were told that the phases of the moon influence plant growth, seed-sowing effectiveness and healing properties in native plants. The intention was for farmers to create their own maramataka (the Māori lunar calendar) on their own farms.
This Government-funded trial explores mātauranga Māori, along with “Western science” and farmer knowledge in order to improve soil health. Apparently, this is one of three projects awarded funding as part of the Revitalise Te Taiao research programme. Paeroa-based Rere ki uta rere ki tai has been allocated $2.7 million to test farming methods that aim to “enhance the mana and mauri of the soil” across ten farms. Farmers spent those two days observing pasture and forest growth “through different seasons” and were “gaining insights over a lunar cycle”.
Of course, the moon and sun exert gravitational effects on our planet, giving rise to tides that influence both the oceans and the body of the Earth. In their gravitational effect on the Earth's equatorial bulge, they also cause the Earth's axis of rotation to vary in relation to space. This effect is known as “precession of the equinoxes” - precession of the axis approximately every 26,000 years. The other planets of our solar system also exert a small gravitational effect. But all of these effects are far too small to influence significantly the biochemical processes of plants. Moreover, the additional light of a full moon is not sufficient to have significant influence.
Therefore it comes as no surprise that twenty-first century world science has produced no evidence whatsoever of any influence of the phases of the moon on agricultural or other plant life. For example, we refer to Mayoral et al (2020):
. . . no reliable, science-based evidence for any relationship between lunar phases and plant physiology in any plant–science related textbooks or peer-reviewed journal articles justifying agricultural practices conditioned by the Moon. Nor does evidence from the field of physics support a causal relationship between lunar forces and plant responses. Therefore, popular agricultural practices that are tied to lunar phases have no scientific backing. We strongly encourage teachers involved in plant sciences education to objectively address pseudo-scientific ideas and promote critical thinking.
We believe that traditional knowledge has value for particular communities, retaining historic, cultural and sometimes scientific relevance today. However, our media has duty of care not to publish material that is scientifically baseless, thereby potentially misleading the public. Unfortunately, traditional knowledge often conflates correlation and causation.
We believe that the overwhelming majority of farmers in New Zealand are well educated and therefore base their agriculture practice on established science and technology, but the danger is that some people, both in agriculture and other spheres of activity, will be influenced by factually incorrect material presented in our media.
Farmers who wish to use the phases of the moon or other astronomical phenomena as a guide to their practice may feel free to do so. However, they should do so in full awareness that most traditional knowledge, such as that concerning the influence of our moon on plant growth or physiology, lacks underpinning basic science and research. Our media must do better or otherwise we become a laughing stock internationally.
Dr. David Lillis, Professor John Raine, Distinguished Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger, Dr. Raymond Richards
References
Smith (2023). Can Māori knowledge of moon phases help farm resilience? Bay of Plenty farmers gather to learn. Waikato Herald.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/waikato-news/news/can-maori-knowledge-of-moon-phases-help-farm-resilience-bay-of-plenty-farmers-gather-to-learn/6EHCDBGDXBD7PKLBWMK4P2X4EA/
Mayoral, O., Solbes, J., Cantó J. and Pina Tatiana (2020).
What Has Been Thought and Taught on the Lunar Influence on Plants in Agriculture? Perspective from Physics and Biology
Agronomy 2020, 10(7), 955; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10070955
6 comments:
The fact NZ Herald refuses to publish your letters is shameful and a sad indictment of the integrity of our mainstream media. Whether it reflects a lack of courage or complicity is sometimes difficult to know. But the end result is the same: dumbing down the quality of our public discourse.
Keep getting your stuff published and keep shaming the media outlets who try and suppress the truth.
To the Authors of this Article.
I am not going to demean your stated opinions on science, challenge you "on what the moon does and/or does not do"(other than become a target for NASA, India & China with rockets) -but place this challenge before you -
You should be seeking as to why $2.7 million Taxpayer dollars has been "given" to a Maori based organization, -
- that has potentially no science background or "noted science" platform, other being of a Native, Cultural domain
- and ask what accountability "requirements have been placed, on this loan/donation" and who or whom will conduct such an activity
- and ask who do they "report to", to ensure that "what they intend to teach/educate" has merit, objectivity, measurability ?
This is not he first time the current Labour Govt has "donated" large amounts of money to Maori based Organizations. The first I can think of was for drug rehabilitation - to whom, where, how, and what measure and/or accountability was being asked in return and or to be reported on and to who/whom?
My suggestion, is forget the NZ herald. They are not worth your while "to place a and/or any letter before the Editor, when they will ignore such missives, as it must be obvious to you, that "they have taken a knee, to a different science belief", and it is not yours.
Anonymous at 5.05pm you are right. And the Opposition should be loudly asking these questions. But they won't. And right now would be the perfect time for these questions. So what will National do about all this funding if they become government? They won't say because they won't do anything.
MC
nowadays, whenever i hear 'treaty of waitangi', i have a mental image of 'titty of waitangi' with the privileged few fighting each other to suckle as much as they can. it can't run dry because who could starve a feeding mother!
"And the Opposition should be loudly asking these questions. But they won't."
Of course, its the pigs and the farmers from 'Animal Farm'... The farmers are always in power, be it National or Labour, and the animals throw them out to put the pigs in charge. If you remember the last page of the book, there was a drinking session where pigs met farmers and the animals couldn't tell one from the other.
This is why democracy is just a failed experiment, better shown by Caitlin Johnstone today-
“One of the great challenges faced by westerners who oppose the political status quo today is the way the narrative managers of both mainstream factions continuously divert all political energy away from issues which threaten the interests of the powerful like economic injustice, war, militarism, authoritarianism, corruption, capitalism and ecocide and toward issues which don’t threaten the powerful at all like abortion, racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia.”
They just have to keep chanting
Russia is bad
Putin is mad
4 legs good
2 legs bad!
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