I sat and listened to the David Suzuki talk the other week.
He scared the living s**t out of me!
It is green this and green that these days. Local, provincial and federal government alike are talking environment. For all this "talk" it seems that in Canada anyway, we are crap when it comes to action.
Last year Canada ranked a dismal 15 out of 17 industrial countries for environmental responsibility. This year a report just out dropped us to 16, and it wouldn't surprise me if the U.S. surpasses us and we end up being the worst country in the world, causing more damage to Mother Earth than anyone else.
Locally, the mindset seems to be fill it, build it, install a low flush toilet, and pat each other on the back for being so green. In the meantime everybody forgets about the fact that a habitat has been permanently destroyed in the process. Of course no matter where you build, habitat is going to be destroyed, but not all habitat has been created equal.
The highest value habitats are the wetlands, and aquatic environments such as our local streams and sloughs. Conductivity between these high value areas must be maintained as well. And permanent wildlife corridors established in combination with wildlife fencing to help cut down on the human wildlife conflict.
So on the one hand local government wants to ring the green bell, but at the same time they are looking at the possibility of filling in Cattermole Slough to build a road, filling in part of the Squamish Estuary to build a road, and building a road that threatens the health of Meagan Creek.
The local government of Squamish has been talking since the '90s of laying an environmental framework out for the valley. This would identify high value habitat areas that are necessary to sustain a healthy biodiversity. To date we have a big fat nothing on this. This OCP for wildlife would allow the town to grow in a planned and responsible manner.
Hopefully David Suzuki's talk sparked people to start making changes that matter. This doesn't mean that we all run out and live in tofu-walled houses with granola roofs, it just means bringing common sense back to life.
Squamish Can, make a difference.
John Buchanan
Squamish
