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Re: WCSB big picture -- natural disaster risk management and the climate -- Never travelled to Bella Coola Red! Nor even spent any time in the Cariboo? I have travelled the Telegraph Creek road a few times but not taken that branch of the Cassiar highway down to Hyder and Stewart. BC is a huge Province - but as my Dad once commented on his travels here - its a lot of vertical acres and Moose pasture. The valley bottoms and terraces are the only easy and viable lands to farm - but they are also the easiest upon which to build too and that fierce competition for the same very limited lands is not good. And then there are those special but very local microclimates and micro ecologies that make just a few select places true and miraculous oases in a desert of wilderness. Many of those local oases in the interior are preserved as Indian Lands and Reservation Lands too. (The ever arrogant whites never really gave them any value back in the day... If they ever knew of them?) Developing in the land of Vertical Acres is always going to be extremely challenging with huge competition for the precious little "Good Land." From one projection I saw that geographers had been predicting that the Canadian population is going to rise to some 70+ million souls in another 50 years or so. The pressures on the available "Good Lands" is going to be enormous. And one way or another Western Canada is not going to be able to afford the luxury of a single overloaded Port Facility? (With just minor ingress and egress elsewhere?) Whether the Portland Canal (The main Fiord out of Stewart/Hyder) is the chosen route is up for grabs? I personally like the idea of the Northern Eagle Spirit Corridor - especially if the bulk of First Nations are already onside and potentially adequately economically and philosophically "engaged." Absolutely we must take advantage of what we have in order to get where we wish to (and must) go. I have no problems with those who sound the alarms - the David Suzukis and others. As my niece informs me on a regular basis - if we all thought the same - many of us would be unnecessary... If that monumental juggernaught Ship of State needs to change its direction even infinitesimally - it is going to take the efforts of vast numbers of scientifically informed extremists in row boats pushing on its prow to get it to even ever so incrementally nudged into changing its course? I never met the man but enjoyed his documentaries and his science. Friends of a friend used to go to parties at his home in Kitsilano many decades ago when living in "Kits" did not require a King's ransom. (My sister in Law's parents lived just off 2nd Ave west and Vine - my brother a bit further East off False Creek on 7th/8th Ave and Willow.) My wife's folks knew and were friends with a couple who lived on Point Grey Road and we used to go see them when we went to Vancouver. (Long gone now!) He has done well in life off his activities and contributions to the general welfare and wellbeing - obviously he has a very sharp business mind as well as the more public scientific and media presence one! Myopia and Parochialism is never a good thing in our Public Servants - however it seems to be endemic and its what the voters keep electing! Politics everywhere seems to be continuously shrinking in focus to serve the needs of ever more influential gated community human culture clubs? Too much political capital and effort expended on single issues rather than working on some cohesive Nation Building and enhancing Master Plan? Trouble is voters "here" never seem to give a damn about issues over "there." (However defined!) However Nation Building take someone with huge personal Charisma and a great deal of trust and personal respect. Both Trust and Respect have evaporated under the fierce and intrusive reach of modern technology and media attention... I doubt that it is likely to ever return as it would demand the birth of modern Heroes and we have virtually ensured that there will never be any more of those Unicorns... In the absence of any genuine hope - I shall probably do the only sane thing left - take time to go enjoy and visit what is left - while it still remains worth doing so. GS |
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