03-08-2007, 04:40 AM
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I know what I am posting will not go down well with some of you but the Kanaka Maoli and other indigenous people exploited nature to the best of their ability. Before Hawai`i became infested with humans, there were several species of giant flightless birds here. They are all extinct now and known only from fossils. What happened to them is obvious, the Hawaiians wiped them out from over hunting. Who knows how many other species were driven to extinction during this period? If they had had the technology back then, many more species would have been wiped out for sure.
And your recycled garbage has been done & redone. Your concept of "exploitation" is nothing like what happened back in the old days. Can you, who try to impress with what little you can about flightless birds, count the number of endangered species including extinct since post-western contact? You'd be surprised at the numbers, trust me.
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Humans are humans whether indigenous or not and it's is in our nature to exploit nature. This concept of the "noble savage" living in complete harmony with nature was conceived by racist writers of the 18th and 19th centuries. It's ironic that indigenous peoples have come embrace this myth. I suppose this is due to the rise of left wing liberlism and the so called "green" eco movement.
Correction, the "noble savage" is a western concept. Key word, WESTERN. Not a native concept. These racists writers you mention of course, is another "western" introduction. What about our ancient 'olelo no'eau? Momi just provided one that was said by her son. There are so many telling us how to live in harmony with nature. We don't need outsiders from the 18th century using a western concept to judge a culture unfamiliar to them and applying western analogies to what they really cannot comprehend. Does that make sense to you? Am I making myself clear? I hope I am, I know sometimes I tend to go off on a tangent and too wordy to a point no one can understand what I am saying.
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One idea down the tubes is the idea of the eco-friendly Polynesians. Fossil evidence suggests a significant Hawaiian impact. Once the Polynesians arrived in Hawaii, they began to do two things to the birds here. First off, they ate an awful lot them.
OOps, that's where you are wrong. Nothing in our traditions says that they ate birds. Yes, many of them were used for feathers. Of course I am referring specifically to na kanaka 'oiwi, I can't speak about other Polynesians. Perhaps you read in some of the books written by non-native people who are experts in western anthropology that said otherwise?
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In the archeological garbage pits of Hawaiians past are numerous bird bones. Native bird bones dominate the earliest sites. As time progresses there are less and less native bird bones in the middens and more and more Polynesian introduced food sources such as dog, pig, and chicken. These pits show several extinct species of flightless land birds and numerous species of seabirds.
Yes, but where is your proof that it was eaten?
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Secondly, the Hawaiians cleared vast areas of lowland forest habitat with agricultural plantings, firewood gathering, and burning for grassland cultivation. This loss of habitat drove certain birds to extinction and many others were forced into marginal areas.
Vast areas? So what you are trying to imply in order to justify your own point here, is that in days of old they still destroyed, although compared to today which has had even a more devastating effect that contributes to the slow extinction of mankind, speaking on a global term of course.