At the Concerned Citizens of Bowen LNG information meeting last month, I heard anthropologist Wade Davis say that the re-industrialization of Howe Sound - which he calls the most magnificent fjord in the world - has everything to do with ideology. This is good information. Ideology is a way of looking at the world, a set of conscious and unconscious ideas that shape our goals and motivations.
Ideology is, of course, just a fancy word for story; and stories can be changed. If it’s story driving this threat to our home, then let’s create more thoughtful stories - stories that focus on how we can maintain and even enhance the beauty of Howe Sound and promote alternative industry - stories that acknowledge the sacredness of the waters and the land as part of a living and generous organism that supports our lives and the lives of countless (we’ve only just begun to count them) other beings that add to the enjoyment and quality of life in our inlet.
We could start by taking a look at what is wrong with the current political and industrial ideology in B.C., one that focuses on extraction, rather than production, to power our economy. To get a two-minute glimpse of the inefficient process that is LNG and the extractive economy, in general, I suggest you go online and watch Damien Gillis deliver: LNG in a Nutshell.
The current system of managing water, air, soils, fish, minerals and wildlife is utterly dysfunctional because the focus is on the production of wealth for a few, and not on the collective public good.
We need to ask who benefits? Who takes the risks? And that “who” must include the waters, the land, the Squamish Nation, the salmon, the forage fish. We must determine how they will benefit and how they will shoulder the burden of risk.
We cannot enhance the economy of our bioregion by killing Howe Sound. So I offer a couple of optional stories, other ways of looking at our home.
We cannot enhance the economy of our bioregion by killing Howe Sound. So I offer a couple of optional stories, other ways of looking at our home. We could view Howe Sound as the dynamic living system that it is, a web of intricate relationships that includes the land, the waters, the air, the flying things, the swimming things, the walking things. Each one is a participant in this living habitat with a stake in its well-being. You take one of them away, or endanger its health, and you disrupt the elegant workings of the bio system.
This thinking leads us to the concept of The Commons – a story that was the foundation of most indigenous cultures and many cultures in medieval Europe. The land and those who occupy it are bound together; if the land suffers, the people suffer. The Commons includes the cultural and natural resources that belong to all members of a group. It involves self-restraint and individual stewardship. No one takes more than their share and everyone participates in the care and protection of home. The idea of the Commons is making a comeback. If it takes hold, it would make it extremely difficult – impossible – for corporations to extract our water, our minerals, our fish for their own benefit.
Here’s another proposal for a better story. We could nominate Howe Sound as a Mission Blue “Hope Spot.” Mission Blue is an initiative of marine biologist and deep sea diver, Sylvie Earle. Their plan is to make a global network of Marine Protected Areas; the goal is to have 20% of the ocean protected by 2020. Currently, less than 3% of the ocean is protected in any way. They have currently identified 50 Hope Spots – areas that need protection from the stresses put on marine ecosystems by human activity. Why not Howe Sound?
I talked with Karen Wristen, executive director of Living Oceans Society. Karen believes it’s a good idea but they don’t have all the data for Howe Sound - yet. She anticipated “collecting a good deal more in their collaboration with the various groups working on protecting the Sound…We probably wouldn’t be in a position to advise on areas in need of protection for several months.” I’ll follow up on that.
While we work to Save the Sound, let’s savour the Sound. Get out on the waters, the land, get to know the trees, the birds, the fish, the beaches. This is our home. Love it. Love it the way you would love the best present you ever received. It probably is. And I invite you to share your stories to help realize the hope of Howe Sound.
This is my last column on Howe Sound – for now. It takes a lot to change a Big Story. That’s okay. I’m in this for the long haul.
Pauline Le Bel is an Emmy-nominated screenwriter, award-winning novelist and the author of Becoming Intimate with the Earth.
