A few days ago we went up to Awenda Provincial Park. For those of you who may not know about this provincial park it’s situated on the shores of Georgian Bay a few miles from Penetanguishene, Ontario. It speaks to the history of the area, both Aboriginal and the European settlement of the area. It’s a beautiful park, a great place to enjoy nature, and a wonderful place to soak up a bit of solitude, at least until the arrival of summer when the park becomes stressed with a flood of people from our towns and cities seeking relief from their stressed lives spent toiling in overpopulated spaces.
We used to go up to the park year round. In the winter it used to be a favourite place, close to home, to cross-country ski with access to frozen over Georgian Bay. Then, inevitably, age and health catches up with you, so we now go up to the park with the arrival of spring to enjoy nature, until that is the hoards arrive, the campers with their screaming children, dogs, and bicycles. Their all nice people (probably), but in their enthusiasm for escaping their overpopulated space they lose sight of the reason that they’ve come to this bit of heaven, and become a bit obnoxious and revert to their miserable selves. Fortunately, come September quiet returns to the park, and we, and nature, once again get to enjoy a bit of solitude before the winter gales out on the Bay.
Okay, so I’ve been ranting a bit going on about hoards of people and the loss of (one of) my personal place of solitude, but I’ve done so to point out that a part of the problem with this thing called global warming is caused by hoards of people. You see, I’m an older person and my memory goes back to a time when there were fewer people in the lifeboat. If you haven’t guessed my reference to the “lifeboat” is my way of describing the earth, our home, and in a manner of speaking our slice of heaven in our, what appears to be, hostile galaxy.
Anyone who has read my blog knows that I am not a great fan of the eco-evangelists who tell us that if tomorrow we stop burning fossil fuels our planet will return to its former self, and we’ll all live happily ever after. Rubbish. These people must live in Lala Land, or have ulterior motives. In my few years on this planet, which by the way, in my opinion, is the only slice of heaven that the vast majority of us will ever see, the world population has increased (to say substantially is an understatement) from a couple of billion mostly miserable souls, to almost 8 billion, with the promise to increase to as many as 12 billion by the end of this century. Now, even if tomorrow we STOP! using fossil fuels damage has been done that will require a hundred years, perhaps more, for the Earth to undo by itself. So, if we stop using fossil fuels we may be able to slow global warming, but it’s not the solution, nor with ever increasing population growth is it at all feasible.
So, my point is that while politicians of all ilks have been dancing on the head of a pin the world’s population is increasing, and regardless of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions it cannot keep pace with the need for more and more energy to support, let alone sustain, population growth at the pace that exists. There will always be greenhouse gas emissions. Let’s face it, it’s a natural process. Greening the Earth will help in carbon capture, but in my opinion it is not enough.
Unless someone has the courage to address the problem of overpopulation there is no solution to global warming, and I’m banking on the fact that as people mean political power at all levels, no one is going to address the problem. Tell me I’m wrong. Please! In the meantime my advice is to begin preparing your children to find ways of living in a much warmer, and more hostile environment. Political unrest and mayhem is only the tip of the iceberg. There’s much worse on the horizon.
As for me, well I’m old, and growing older, so with this, and my attempts to be a good citizen having practised reuse and recycle long before it was fashionable, I feel that I’ve done my bit. I do hope, however, that I’m wrong, wrong, wrong, and that tomorrow’s children can get control of the situation, and that the lifeboat can be fixed.
 |
View of The Giant's Tomb from Awenda Prov. Pk. Watercolour Painting |
 |
The Giant's Tomb from Awenda Provincial Park Pen & Ink Field Sketch 2016 |
 |
Shoreline - Awenda Provincial Park Pencil Field Sketch 2016 |
