WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.500
I don't think there's a better example of how
humanity changed the landscape of New Zealand

2
00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:10.049
than right here, at this dividing line between
wild forest and managed farmland.

3
00:00:10.049 --> 00:00:11.590
It's a little bit difficult to see close up,
though.

4
00:00:11.590 --> 00:00:15.480
For the best view, you need to go a few kilometres
that way.

5
00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:17.590
In the centre of that circle is Mount Taranaki,

6
00:00:17.590 --> 00:00:20.690
a stratovolcano on the west coast of New Zealand's
North Island.

7
00:00:20.690 --> 00:00:24.110
And from six kilometres up, the landscape
looks bizarre:

8
00:00:24.110 --> 00:00:28.200
there are very few large-scale circular features
like that in the world.

9
00:00:28.200 --> 00:00:31.170
Taranaki is also one of the most symmetrical
volcanoes on the planet,

10
00:00:31.170 --> 00:00:32.740
which adds to the effect.

11
00:00:32.740 --> 00:00:35.030
This mountain is one of the natural features
of New Zealand

12
00:00:35.030 --> 00:00:37.790
that's been granted the
legal rights of a person,

13
00:00:37.790 --> 00:00:42.390
in sort of the same way that corporations
are considered people in a lot of countries.

14
00:00:42.390 --> 00:00:43.600
Although the nuances of that,

15
00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:46.360
and the history of war and land confiscation
that got us to this point,

16
00:00:46.360 --> 00:00:50.019
is something that this British tourist is
not qualified to talk about.

17
00:00:50.019 --> 00:00:52.999
So I'll put some links at the end of the video
and in the description.

18
00:00:52.999 --> 00:00:55.960
Before humans arrived in New Zealand,
about 700 years ago,

19
00:00:55.960 --> 00:00:59.739
most of the country looked
something like this: dense forest.

20
00:00:59.739 --> 00:01:01.430
Not that exact species of tree everywhere,

21
00:01:01.430 --> 00:01:04.550
but certainly that sort of haven
for wildlife and birds.

22
00:01:04.550 --> 00:01:06.960
Māori settlers cleared some of it after they
landed here,

23
00:01:06.960 --> 00:01:09.940
but the European settlers,
a few centuries later,

24
00:01:09.940 --> 00:01:12.370
they cleared forest on an industrial scale.

25
00:01:12.370 --> 00:01:16.460
Trees that were valuable for construction
were cut down, and anything else was burned,

26
00:01:16.460 --> 00:01:18.920
making way for this sort of pastureland.

27
00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:22.490
About half of New Zealand was eventually converted
to grasslands for grazing

28
00:01:22.490 --> 00:01:26.650
for imported species of animals,
on imported species of grass.

29
00:01:26.650 --> 00:01:28.710
The national government reserved
an area around that peak,

30
00:01:28.710 --> 00:01:31.290
to help defend against flash floods and erosion.

31
00:01:31.290 --> 00:01:33.810
In 1900, that area became a National Park,

32
00:01:33.810 --> 00:01:37.730
defined as a circle six miles in radius from
the summit of the mountain,

33
00:01:37.730 --> 00:01:39.800
plus a few other interesting parts
on the edge.

34
00:01:39.800 --> 00:01:42.230
Farmers, of course, cleared everything up
to that circle,

35
00:01:42.230 --> 00:01:43.710
as far as they could legally go,

36
00:01:43.710 --> 00:01:46.770
and the result was this mathematical line
made real,

37
00:01:46.770 --> 00:01:50.660
this wonderful view out the window as you
fly from Auckland to Wellington.

38
00:01:50.660 --> 00:01:54.140
Although at some point, that flight's going
to become a bit more difficult.

39
00:01:54.140 --> 00:01:56.280
As is living around here.

40
00:01:56.280 --> 00:01:58.630
Because Taranaki is not an extinct volcano.

41
00:01:58.630 --> 00:02:01.600
Under that rock, there's still
magma ready to go:

42
00:02:01.600 --> 00:02:05.670
Taranaki is active, just quiet right now,
and it's overdue.

43
00:02:05.670 --> 00:02:08.640
On average, there's at least a minor eruption
every 90 years.

44
00:02:08.640 --> 00:02:11.769
And it's been more than 150
since the last one.

45
00:02:11.769 --> 00:02:15.379
One study said there's an 80% chance of some
sort of eruption in the next fifty years.

46
00:02:15.379 --> 00:02:18.370
There will be warning signs and
plenty of time to evacuate folks, but

47
00:02:18.370 --> 00:02:22.010
if it's the big one, the government's
civil defence evacuation plans

48
00:02:22.010 --> 00:02:27.689
describe the entire National Park as an area
where people "are unlikely to survive".

49
00:02:27.689 --> 00:02:30.519
And it could shut down air traffic over most
of the North Island:

50
00:02:30.519 --> 00:02:34.260
engine-shredding ash will probably blow east
right into that flightpath.

51
00:02:34.260 --> 00:02:36.739
And the cone of the mountain
could collapse entirely,

52
00:02:36.739 --> 00:02:41.069
as it's done several times in the eons when
humans weren't around to see it.

53
00:02:41.069 --> 00:02:44.379
So if you are flying between Auckland and
Wellington any time soon,

54
00:02:44.379 --> 00:02:47.660
and the skies are clear: do enjoy the view.

55
00:02:47.660 --> 00:02:49.590
Because at some point, it's going to change.