more freshwater
Posted at 6:55, 23.7.2006
The crisis in Ontario's Boreal Forests is heating up. While much of the world is aware of the devastating destruction occurring in the Amazon rainforests, many don't realize the other important remaining intact forest ecosystem left on earth is the Canadian Boreal forest. Not only is this vast mosaic of forests, river, wetlands and lakes a breeding ground for billions of birds and home to the endangered woodland caribou, but it stores more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem, making it one of our first lines of defense against global warming, and provides more freshwater than any other place on earth. The various provincial governments in Canada have already allocated most of the Boreal's productive timber lands to logging companies and almost all logging is done through clearcuts - some as large as 20,000 acres. Logging and mining are moving further north threatening this vital forest ecosystem and the traditional territory of many First Nations in Ontario.
An old farmer had three daughters. When the oldest girl married she moved to Twin Cities, Minnesota, and soon gave birth to a beautiful set of twin boys. Her sister married shortly thereafter, and she and her husband took up residence in Three Rivers, Ontario. Pretty soon she gave birth to triplets. The youngest sister got herself engaged, but after almost a year she still refused to set the date for the wedding. Her father grew concerned and finally demanded that she stop procrastinating and set the date. "If you love that boy, you will marry him this spring or you won't marry him at all!" "But Pa," she wailed, "I really do love Fred, but he keeps talking about moving to the Thousand Islands!"
That's why nations exist: it is because of fear, not because of any love. That's why religions exist -- not because of a longing for god. How many people really long for god? Not so many Christians, not so many Hindus, not so many Mohammedans. The whole world is religious in that way. But people are afraid of being left alone; they have to be part of some crowd -- a political crowd, a social crowd, a religious crowd; any crowd will do, but they are dependent on the crowd. They feel good when they are surrounded by people; they start feeling shaky, scared when they find there is nobody and they are alone. We are not brought up as individuals. We are brought up as small units of a great mechanism called the society, the nation, the church.
