[10][21] In a prelude to an interview with Salmond, one reviewer noted that the title referred essentially to the "grief and agony of separation", and the book analysed the role of history in creating myths and realities that needed to be reconciled in New Zealand.

She made the case that acknowledging the interwoven "ancestral lines of descent" in whakapapa would allow a reimagining of relations between all people in the country, and a re-focus on the promise of the partnership between Māori and the Crown in the Treaty of Waitangi.

Salmond contended that this mind set was threatening the world and human survival requiring different systems and networks to understand how the world works, which in Aotearoa was about "experimenting with bringing together mātauranga Māori with cutting edge science...[and people]...seeking to free their thinking from disciplinary silos by focusing on relations among and between different living systems and life forms".

[26] Salmond acknowledged that the idea for the collection came from her husband, who had also felt that the contemporary, personalised introductions to each piece would add context about "what was happening at the time".

[29] This conclusion was challenged by academics who said that her approach had been too "frugal with the concept of white supremacy", rather than using it as an analytical framework for "understanding colonialism...and the part that individuals play in perpetuating that system".

[30] In December 2020 Salmond expressed optimism that a worldview for New Zealand based on key concepts such as aroha (‘love’) and kaitiakitanga (‘guardianship’) could build relationships, not just between people, but also with the living world.

[32] Seeking to build understandings of different cultural beliefs about the relationship between people, land, rivers and the ocean, Salmond speaks and writes widely on environmental challenges.

"[35][36] When there were discussions in New Zealand in 2017 about "royalties for the commercial use of freshwater", Salmond held this need not undermine the generally accepted maxim that 'everyone owns the water', but instead acknowledge that "iwi have special relationships with ancestral waterways" which have been recognised in legislation following settlements under the Treaty of Waitangi.

[37] In making the case for the New Zealand Government taking a trustee role in protecting waterways, Salmond cited initiatives in Hawaii and the USA that recognised the public interest coulf be maintained when customary rights were respected and that there was "a uniquely Kiwi way" of doing this based on kaitiakitanga (‘guardianship’).

She concluded that those who made private profit from using the waterways should "contribute to their preservation and enhancement...[because]...rivers, lakes, springs and aquifers are the lifeblood of the land.

[38] Salmond called for "nature based solutions" to tackle climate change in New Zealand if the country's indigenous forests that supported important diversity of plants and animals and store high amounts of carbon were to be restored.

[39] In the same piece, Salmond suggested that the New Zealand Government "should be listening to ecologists and modellers who understand the complex links between climate, forests, waterways and other ecosystems, and weighing the impacts on local communities and economies in their decision-making", and not be driven by the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) which privileged a forestry industry that was "largely owned overseas".

[40] As New Zealand prepared for a general election in 2023, Salmond questioned whether either Chris Hipkins or Christopher Luxon as leaders of the two main political parties in the country were being "honest and long-sighted, or cynical or expedient...[in developing policies]...to address climate change at pace and scale".