“New Zealand’s government wants the Maori language to be taught in all primary schools alongside maths and science, with the prime minister saying she wants to be one of the last generation that wasn’t taught. While te reo Maori is one of three languages officially recognised in New Zealand - alongside English and New Zealand Sign Language - it’s currently not compulsory and not taught at many schools. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern - who wants to raise her daughter, Neve, speaking both Maori and English - told reporters the language was “part of who we are as a country”. “I have an aspiration that my generation will be last generation to regret not having the chance to learn te reo Maori in our learning and education journey,” she said. “I am still, if it’s not obvious, at the beginning of my journey to learn te reo Maori.” Government ministers have avoided using the word “compulsory” - which has proved controversial in the past - in favour of “universal availability”. While the use of words and phrases in Maori is now common in New Zealand, 2013 census figures suggested as few 50,000 people spoke it at a high level, while about 150,000 were conversational. There’s also been a recent surge in interest in beginner Maori courses across the country, with providers saying they had to leave hundreds of people on waiting lists this year.”

“People can’t anticipate how much they’ll miss the natural world until they are deprived of it. I have read about submarine crewmen who haunt the sonar room, listening to whale songs and colonies of snapping shrimp. Submarine captains dispense “periscope liberty” - a chance to gaze at clouds and birds and coastlines - and remind themselves that the natural world still exists. I once met a man who told me that after landing in Christchurch, New Zealand, after a winter at the South Pole research station, he and his companions spent a couple of days just wandering around staring in awe at flowers and trees. At one point, one of them spotted a woman pushing a stroller. “A baby!” he shouted, and they all rushed across the street to see. The woman turned the stroller and ran. Nothing tops space as a barren, unnatural environment. Astronauts who had no prior interest in gardening spend hours tending experimental greenhouses. “They are our love,” said cosmonaut Vladislav Volkov of the tiny flax plants - with which they shared the confines of Salyut 1, the first Soviet space station. At least in orbit, you can look out the window and see the natural world below. On a Mars mission, once astronauts lose sight of Earth, they’ll be nothing to see outside the window. “You’ll be bathed in permanent sunlight, so you won’t eve see any stars,” astronaut Andy Thomas explained to me. “All you’ll see is black.””

Evan Peters for GQ Magazine Outtake.