The worth of nature and wilderness
In modern society, we are obsessed with the notion of progress. Industry! Development! Technology! We believe we have to subdue nature in order to live comfortable and happy lives.
We see nature as a thing to be subjugated and controlled — anything and everything is permissible if it gives us more power, more money, more convenience. We have stopped seeing wilderness as necessary and precious in its own right — not through future exploitative means, but as an entity with worth as high as personhood, the right to be.
Our present government and corporate leaders are in the process of destroying our land to extract her natural resources. There are currently several large-scale energy projects in the works for windfarms and ammonia plants in rural Newfoundland — the Port au Port Peninsula, the Burin Peninsula, and the Bay of Exploits.
There is evidence more of these megaprojects are being planned for other parts of the province, too. These windfarms would produce ammonia, which would then be shipped overseas to be used as chemical fertilizer in agricultural projects there. None of the generated energy would remain for use in Newfoundland, nor would the local communities where these projects are built benefit in any way.
Although no turbines have yet been installed, authority figures are already touting this development as a done deal. A deal in which local people were not consulted, and the land and wilderness given away and ruined for shortterm profit.
A recent N.L. tourism video aims to attract visitors by focusing on wilderness, wildlife, and the peace and historic culture of rural communities in our province. While watching it, all I felt was profound sadness. Because this video is a lie — this is not what our leaders value.
Rural communities are being decimated by industry and empty promises of fleeting jobs. When all is said and done, what are we left with? The land torn up, the wildlife gone, a culture of machinery and devastation. It breaks my heart that our leaders want to sell coastal rural Newfoundland, blinded by money, without caring that this “progress and prosperity” comes at the expense of the planet we claim to want to save.
A project is not green if it rips up the soil, pollutes rivers, drains wetlands, and fells forests, killing countless species of flora and wildlife habitats in the process. Proponents of these projects like to say, “But young people in these communities need the jobs!” As a 28-year-old living in rural Newfoundland, I would argue we need wilderness more than we need money. It is highly distressing to see our home succumb to pollution and industry, the same way the majority of other pristine and wild places across our country and planet have.
The untrodden Nature and unspoiled beauty of Newfoundland is the main reason many young folks, including myself, come back to live and work here. We live in a very special place on Earth — a sanctuary that is fast disappearing in this modern world — where wildlife still lives at our doorstep, where you can walk for days across vast natural expanses without seeing a single vehicle or human structure.
Do we know how rare and priceless that is today? If our leaders spent meaningful time in the places they are considering for their projects, would we be in this predicament? Have they stood on our rugged, undeveloped coastlines and heard the waves and mournful cries of migratory seabirds? Have they walked the barrens, have they seen the rippling beauty of the mountains tumbling into the sea? Have they gazed at the starry, unpolluted night sky? Have they come across caribou sleeping beside swollen rivers in spring, or the heather set ablaze in fall? Have they hunted, foraged, gardened, or lived in harmony with the land?
They must not, otherwise they would understand how bountiful nature is in her present state and would do anything to protect her.
We claim we want to care for nature, yet we keep doing the opposite. We could do much better working with nature in eco-tourism, conservation, or by encouraging small-scale renewable energy projects that directly benefit the communities in which they are built. Better yet, build them in cities where development has already taken place.
Food insecurity could be tackled by promoting homesteading and permaculture. We need sustainable, long-term jobs that are environmentally-friendly. We need to live with less, recycle more, and leave wild what is still wild. We live on a finite planet. Endless economic growth and exploitation of resources will spell the end of us all.
More people in each subsequent generation believe wilderness worthy for its own sake. We understand irreparable harm has been done, and we cannot continue to thoughtlessly consume like we did for over a century.
It is up to us to conserve nature for our children and the creatures we share the world with. They have just as many rights to a healthy, clean, and wild planet as we do.