Letters to the Editor

Tuesday 24 April 2012

The Mysterious East: new blog post by David Coon

It's Not All About Us Steve

When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature.  Genesis 9: 14-5

It's not all about us Steve.   In the story of Noah's Ark, the writer takes great pains to describe God's covenant as being with the whole Earth, not just with Noah and his family.  In fact, this inclusivity of the covenant is repeated five times, where Noah, standing in for humanity, is only explicitly mentioned twice.

As the environment has been relegated to a boutique issue in the halls of our government, one can only  imagine that every living creature in Canada is desperately scanning the skies these days for rainbows seeking some reassurance the covenant stands.   Perhaps we should join them.

In my 35 years as an environmental advocate I have never encountered a government that appears to be so far removed from the reality that we are embedded in the environment.  It is being treated as a luxury that we really can no longer afford, or at best, as a competing demand distracting from the prime directive to grow the economy - when the fact is Earth is the source of all life and every human economy that has been created. 

We breath air, drink water, eat food, construct our homes, reside in habitable conditions, and consume resources, all supplied by nature.  As does every living creature.

Two years ago Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Report issued report cards on the health of our environment.  Never heard of them?  It's no surprise.  The public servants who assembled the reports were not permitted to even issue a news release announcing their existence, never mind promote them to Canadians.  The government scientists with the expertise to comment on the worrisome findings had their jaws wired shut in case a curious reporter stumbled across the report cards on the internet and came looking for an interview...

...To read the rest of this post, click here:  http://www.conservationcouncil.ca/Blogs/Coon/