Across British Columbia we are due for a change in our ability to provide for our mobilized lifestyles as the inevitable consequence of living in and for mobility. The system we had for the last 300 years was exploiting the surface of the land through easily-acquired resources such as timber, hydro-electric power, farmed-gathered foodstuffs, minerals, shallow drilling, etc. Wheels are in motion to change the very nature of the laws which were placed in effect over the previous 100 years in an effort to protect our environment from the dangers of over-exploitation
This mobile lifestyle is a consequence of hundreds of years, if not thousands, of trying to dominate the fear of our natural environment. It is a hard thing to purposely consider when the term fear is used but that is exactly what drives the human expansion endeavours.
The term I first encountered was "expansionist-politic" used years ago to name the driving force behind non-sedentary and sedentary cultures. As humankind became more aware of its environs it also became more accepting and thus more manipulative, and the end result is where we currently stand on a global basis. This is exactly the same theme which allows every species to interact, but the exception is in choice for humans have a greater cognition and so greater is the ability to choose what and how to interact with its environs.
Unfortunately for a host of other species, human choices have historically and systematically favoured humans rather than seeking balanced mobility. All of this can be understood by the belief systems humans have allowed to further our particular aims of domination. The facts from conflict, pollution, weather patterns, and such are growing by leaps and bounds on a daily basis as inevitable boundaries and limitations appear. These represent the rock in the title of this article and the hard place is our refusal to accept that our industries of mobility are the cause. It seems we've become complacent in this false belief that we are the pinnacle of creation and deserve some sort of punitive reward for being thus.
The governments at all level represent the consensus of thinking by the members of all societies in what we are willing to accept by design. Even those of us who question the motifs set forth and the motives behind them are still a part of this. So what will you do to ensure that your children's children have a life?
Dennis Ouellette
Prince George
