Submission by Leslie Wade
Your Vision:
To maintain all our natural resources, including soils in a sustainable manner so that these resources are not further depleted. For those areas such as forestry which is in trouble through clearcutting, healthier practices need to be put in place to enrich the forests. Where there is any threat at all to the environment as caused through mining and its impact on water, wildlife, etc. then the risk should not be taken.
Strengths:
The strengths are that we have a beautiful province which is appealing to tourists because we still have some resources left and we desperately need to preserve that before it is too late. Tourists don't come here to see development, industry or mining.
Barriers and Issues:
Big business and its influence over government regarding policies which allow for short-term gain at the expense of a sustainable future. Too, the reluctance of governments to take firm stands when it comes to natural resources, allowing the individual to dictate personal rights over the common good and a vision for future. We are guardians of the land. We do not own it to the degree that we should be allowed to destroy it.
Community's Priorities:
As part of the goal for sustainability we need to protect the water, air, soil, and trees and to do this we need to stop clearcutting, encourage healthy forestry practices reduce carbon emissions,protect agricultural land as well as wilderness areas.
Guiding the health and sustainability:
Integrity and an ethical approach to our future that considers the well being of mankind, through the protection of the environment, over the interests of industry and big corporations
Additional Comments:
All of our resources are interconnected so that when one part is destroyed the others are impacted. For instance, the clearcutting and removing the older trees affects carbon sequestering. It impacts on the soil, upsets the balance regarding pests which attack the forests. With the overharvesting, by as much as 50% in 2003, watersheds are threatened. Brook trout have declined by 50% in the last ten years. Streams are drying up. This does not make for a sustainable future. The government should not require public consultation to hear this. The information has been there for some time.