Absolutely! Maybe he finally gets it. Maybe he could tell his Cabinet. Canada IS one big natural wilderness park, albeit with human settlements woven into the habitats of the plants and animals native to it: to the second largest national land mass in the world, which consists of the largest boreal forest, plus Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic coast ecosystems, as well as prairie grasslands, an extraordinary network of rivers and lakes, and one of Earth's major mountain ranges -- the Rockies.
When Susanna Moodie and her co-settlers of this land arrived from elsewhere, it was not for nothing that she entitled her book Roughing It in the Bush. "The Bush" was nature, and humans have been plundering it in Canada ever since the time she wrote it (and, in terms of animal exploitation and extinctions, before).
It is the duty of Canadian citizens to guard and champion these ecosystems and species we find ourselves living among. That is why the majority of British Columbians have come out against the pipeline proposed to carry crude oil from Alberta to the unspoilt coast of B.C. which will without doubt, sooner or later, be clogged with spills if tankers carry that oil along the stormy and craggy coast on its destinations to Asia and the south. Harper and company merely gamble that it will be later, i.e. after their term in office is over (and after the foreign investors in Canadian oil production have secured their profits).
The west coast marine area of the inherent wilderness park which is Canada is one thing; the northern boreal forest is Earth's best hedge against climate change that threatens to harm life forms in general. Who lives in that boreal forest which our government should be protecting rather than logging and denuding? Some of the animals are: deer, elk, bison, muskox, Dall's and Bighorn sheep, fox, wolves, wolverine, bear (grizzly and polar), hares, lemmings, shrews, loons, swans, grebes, ducks, teals, owls, grouse, arctic terns, woodpeckers ... this is just a sample, and doesn't even include the insect and marine life (cetaceans, seals, marine birds ) ... what about them?
Who wants those animal species to disappear? Not those who recognize that northern North America is indeed a wildlife extravaganza. Some sad people, it is true, could not care less, and it is true that the Canadian public (or those who bothered to vote) voted for the current government. Now, the world is reaping the results. The doomed animals however did not vote thus, and they too are reaping the results.
The word "park" is etymologically related to the word "paradise." When Planet Earth becomes a paved and dead non-park, it will by contrast have become hell. It will be an empty world for humanity, devoid of other creatures and of anything green or natural, an indoor, factory-laced cyber-obsessed global shopping mall, instead of a nature park. So yes, Mr. Harper, of course we think Canada should be one national park. Humanity must fit its cities and hamlets in, with respect and awe for what surrounds them.
Nations are made (by politics and conflict); the planet is given. Nature-lovers worldwide care about Canada's northern North America wilderness. It's all one planet. The Natural Resources Defence Council aims to "protect the planet's wildlife and wild places" as do many other Northern Gateway pipeline opposers from all over the world. Please contact www.http://www.nrdc.org.
0 comments:
Post a Comment