A WORLDLY PLACE, AND SANCTUARY AMONGST THE BIRCHES

There’s a great deal of contentment, these days, escaping this short distance into the Muskoka woodlands, to quietly, gently, subtly contemplate the good graces of the natural environs. When the news this month, of this new century, is so damning, dangerous and seemingly hopeless, you look out upon this changing landscape, watching the wildlife dart in and out of the scene, and in only minutes, one can safely side-step without prejudice, some of the more pressing issues of the day. And that day so far, has been involving, and evolving everything from major earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, radiation contamination, environmental destruction to war in North Africa. To ardent news watchers like me, it may seem the news of “everyday” consequence...... and they would only be wrong by degrees. While it is a regular occurrence to have these natural disasters, being a partner to a major radiation event makes this anything but a routine period of time. We couldn’t survive on this planet too long, having nuclear disasters, as they have experienced most recently in Japan, occurring around the world as frequently as earthquakes and pesky volcanoes rumble terra firma.

It is hard, obviously under the horrific circumstances of multiple disasters, to blame Japan for this major environmental calamity. They didn’t have the opportunity of deferring an earthquake or the resulting tsunami. They did have an opportunity to make sure their nuclear power plant could withstand a heavy blow from the earth and the sea, and still contain and protect what is held within. What we find today is that building a nuclear site, in an earthquake prone area, that also has a history of receiving tsunamis as a result, is an unsound, dangerous, reckless way of conducting business. And that’s what it is. Business. As the recent oil-well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, was a man-made disaster, so to was this ill-fated power plant the result of man trying to best nature on the cheap! Poisoning a nation that has been devastated, first by earthquake, then by tsunami......, now by radioactive contamination over this picturesque island. Now to spread across the sea to other nations, contaminating all the natural wonders along the way.

As pretty a picture as this is today, looking out over this beautiful Muskoka lowland, with all its promise for spring, I can’t help thinking about this place being compromised as well, by all the contaminates mankind likes to play with in the pursuit of profit building.

When our neighborhood was recently faced with a town hall initiative, to sell-off this filtering bog, situated above an already stressed Muskoka Bay, Lake Muskoka, we couldn’t believe that reasonably intelligent councillors could even think about cutting down, infilling, levelling and building over this important urban wetland; that by the way handles a huge amount of drainage water from a large section of our community. Their nifty idea was to sell it off, make some needed money, to help finance a new town hall for themselves. Well, thank goodness there were enough like-minded folks, ready to take up the challenge, to preserve this tiny but significant wetland. But it still shocks me that we had to fight tooth and nail to conserve it, over the greedy needs of the council of the day. The fact we were able to thwart the sell-off, for yet another subdivision, gave a lot of other folks, in similar situations, the incentive to take their own environmental concerns to town hall. We had calls from other areas of the province, praising our defense of The Bog. I wish it could be protected forever but I know some rogue council, in the future, will force a re-visitation to the issue of diminished budget, and surplus property, and potentially put the neighborhood back into action, to defend its environmental honor. When I think about the folks in Japan, who really didn’t like the geographical situation of their neighborhood power plant, were they told.....it’s perfectly safe so don’t worry? Of course they were! That’s the deferral game. You must be crazy to have reservations about our good intentions. The reason this bogland has been preserved, is due entirely to a revolt by the citizenry.....not because council suddenly developed a conscience. What they developed was a keen sense of the opposition’s vigor to protect a wetland, at all cost, and that could have meant some national photo ops that were coming up next. I’m not sure how much fuss was created, when that Japanese neighborhood found out a nuclear plant was being built next door, but I’m sure the relationship has seen its ups and downs over the decades. It’s hard to imagine how terrible it must be now, to think of the “what ifs,” as a countryside is in ruins and contamination is stretching further each day. What if it hadn’t been built in the path of a tsunami, or at least it had enough safety precautions built in, to survive a natural disaster? As usual the citizenry of this fine country will be punished for the actions of government and business interests.

I can lean here, against this accommodating old birch, and quite enjoy the natural radiation of this distant early season sun, feeling some minor satisfaction that we have wildlife and a wild landscape, where houses were planned by speculators looking to make an extra buck. But I will continue to feel uneasy about the future, and whether or not some financially desperate council, one day, will set its focus on this small acreage in an urban neighborhood. I can’t help pondering whether this site will feel the rain of radioactivity one day too, as a foul wind blows from west to east. And whether it confounds the experts or not, shall this cleansing lowland be forced to contend with that same manmade disaster half a world away? However tiny the sprinkling of contamination, will it herald a clearer realization, we are killing ourselves for profit. When is it time to stop the madness, and clean up the carnage we have created......in support of the generations yet to come? It does take some of my satisfaction away, knowing full well, we can’t protect forever, what is obviously so vulnerable, from the growing contamination of mankind by its insatiable appetite, obsession for profit. I must enjoy this sanctuary while it lasts, as such.

I can imagine, as an often repeating nightmare scenario, the distant thunder of chainsaws getting closer and closer, and my chain around this venerable old pine, getting tighter and tighter.