Two groups of environmentalists have risen from the fray

Letter to the Editor:

November 23, 2011 Eco-Justice Canada (formerly Sierra Legal), responding to 12 petitioners demanded the Honourable Peter Kent, then Minister of Environment and Parks Canada, invoke an Emergency Protection Order (EPO) for Greater Sage Grouse (GSG), thus triggering a nation-wide domino effect. The gavel fell. A plumb line drawn. A chasm opened. The divide is deep. Out of the fray has risen two environmental groups, separate and distinct.

The first group are the original environmentalists, the keepers of the land. Those whom the well- being of the land and it’s inhabitants are dependent on. A covenant partnership that has preserved pristine landscapes abounding with multifarious plant and animal species. While providing food, fiber, shelter, and energy for others and themselves. They are the authentic, time-tested, science-based, environmentalist. This group is 100% committed, assumes 100% risk & 100% responsibility.

The second environmental group hold to conservation at any cost. They operate from the supposition that all human activity on rural lands is detrimental. This group’s decision-making model is based on top down mandates formulated to achieve predetermined outcomes. Peer reviewed science and background studies are expendable if perceived to impede their progress. They are distant. Most commonly they have no contact with the land site. This group is 0% committed, assumes 0% risk & 0% responsibility.

An obvious contrast between the two is found in their response to the invocation of the EPO. The first nvironmentalists continue to labor to preserve, protect, and give back while shouldering the crushing weight of arduous restrictions and onerous penalties.

The second group, well heeled by public monies and private donations, celebrate the event, tweeting gleefully from their $28 million 8 story head office building in Arlington Virginia (Nature Conservancy) or Manhattan NY(Audubon Society) or West Vancouver (David Suzuki Foundation) etc.

One thing remains common to both camps. At the core they know; it’s not about recovering species populations or habitat preservation. But rather a thinly disguised strategy of the second group to displace the first.

VaLnda Ivanics

Etzikom, AB

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