Caitlyn's speech for the launch of 'Nature and Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand'

Caitlyn also spoke alongside Professor Bruce Clarkson at the launch of 'Nature and Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand' in Wellington last week. Due to technical difficulties, the sound system was not working and some may have struggled to hear her little voice at the time. So we thought we would reproduce her speech in full here.

"I think nature is good for us. I think especially that trees are good for us. But not all trees. We don’t need so many palm trees, even though they are useful for making palm oil, which is in our food and other things. But planting palm forests means that orangutan have nowhere to live. It’s very sad seeing the pictures of the lonely orangutan with no forest around him anymore.

Some of the things I like to do in nature is to walk along the Waikanae River, near our house. It feels good to see all the green, and hear the birds. You can go and explore in the trees and bushes and find paths. If you hear a “click clock” from stones in the river, it’s fun to go and find where it comes from.

I have been watching David Attenborough’s film and I agree with him. I really think we need to change this planet around. Rather than being against nature we need to live with nature. By being good to nature we are being good to ourselves.

We are the smartest creatures on the Earth. But we need to use our brains. We have stopped killing whales, but we need to stop deforestation and putting plastic in the seas and these other bad things.

If we plant lots of trees around the places we live, there will be more places to play and explore and be happy. So I think this is mainly what my mum’s book is about. I think the book is really good, and it has some nice pictures. I hope you like it.

Thank you for listening to my speech."