Concern for the world of nature

One of the ten Central Capabilities identified by Martha Nussbaum, and which she argues should be supported and enhanced by a Just and Fair society, is citizens being able to live with concern for other species (animals and plants) and the world of nature.

The children's hospital (nicknamed Starship) was built on the Auckland Hospital campus in the 1980s. The site was already rather crowded at that time, and some buildings were demolished to make way for the new building. That this large pohutukawa tree was left and obviously protected during the building shows a real concern for the tree and the world of nature of which it is a part. The children who subsequently have been able to look out the windows of the wards onto this almost wilderness outside, are likely not aware of just how fortunate they are that in the centre of a large city, on a congested site where every spare square metre of land is usually earmarked for some use or other, this small piece of land has been allowed to grow wildly beneath the canopy of an old pohutukawa. A path winds through the greenery to a wooden seat so that people can sit there and relax in the peacefulness.