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Economics likely to win out over environment

NOTL and the Niagara Region as a whole took a lot of environmental blows during COVID times, but the possibility of new issues allowing this to happen furthermore continue to exist.
NOTL and the Niagara Region as a whole took a lot of environmental blows during COVID times, but the possibility of new issues allowing this to happen furthermore continue to exist.

 Like dry earth trying to absorb heavy rains, our human minds have struggled to absorb the onslaught of news over the past two-and-a-half years. A virus. Lockdowns. International conflict. War. Inflation. Elections. It can be gloomier than a darkened forest during a Niagara summer storm. 

As we just endured a provincial election, one thing has become clear to me. At large, our current state of society is ravenously hungry for economic rebound and sustaining reliable income. We need to afford fuel to get to work, and we need work to pay for food and bills, so what priorities do we look to, and vote for? When a substantial part of the population is finding it harder to make ends meet, do we realistically think people passionately caring about the Hwy 413 proposed to slice through protected environmental areas? What about healing Four Mile Creek's water quality, or another woodlot and wetland destroyed along Glendale Avenue?

An economic crushing during COVID times, followed by a shockingly expensive life for Canadians, is not an ideal sequence. Absolutely, this conversation relates to the current health of the environment. I really don't blame this large voting population's voiced concerns, but the mission to a more protected and respected natural heritage system just experienced another major roadblock, and it was created by the wallets of the people who vote.

What I observed and wrote about frequently during lockdowns was how the ecosystems of the world, including right here in Niagara-on-the-Lake, were largely ignored at a decision-making level. A statistical bump in logging operations and tree cuttings highlighted this theme in NOTL. I hoped as the COVID picture finally cleared up and became a less pertinent issue, that we could not only focus on economic recovery, but also the continued and elevated protection of natural areas. In an indisputable sense, economy needs the environment, and vice versa.

I feel like the cultural and economic state of affairs is going to aggressively put concrete where it was never intended, and put people into a state of self resiliency as living expenses soar like an eagle. When the momentum of these two factors takes off, I feel deep concern for how the environment will be brushed aside — again.

However, there are glimmers of slow-motion hope. Niagara Region has done plenty lately to advocate for, and now implement, public transit options that previously didn't exist. There is a sluggish but noticeable shift in appetite towards electric vehicles, and we can see people literally taking garbage cleanups into their own hands here in NOTL. There has also been a spike of home-school groups and community organizations that have taken on a newfound love for nature, and educating youth about it more than ever. One day, these youth will vote for politicians who protect our environment with higher enthusiasm.

Now I must ask, will these efforts and incentives be paled by a Conservative government which traditionally doesn't care much for the environment, regardless of viruses or inflation? I am not against the PC party, in fact, I mistrust all the parties equally when it comes to the environment, or just about anything. I do, however, feel an obligation to put the pressure on all of them with appropriate questioning.

As NOTL often exhibits right out in the open, time will tell if the environment will come back into the limelight as much as our economic desires. I'd like to think it is totally reasonable to focus on both in a calculated and realistic fashion, but maybe that's just me.

On that note, you can catch me giving a talk at the NOTL Museum in person on Thursday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m. The title of the presentation is fitting with this article, and the times in general: NOTL’s Waterfront — Worry and Wonder. I will be giving a visual, fresh take on our nationally-significant freshwater features, and how we can use wonder to change worry into hope for protecting them. T,he cost is $10 to the museum for those who are interested.