Deverell on the Environment

The writer William Deverell had an essay on CBC's "This I Believe" a few weeks back:

"Here and in British Columbia I have watched the wilderness systematically destroyed by quick-buck developers. Gas-guzzling SUVs roar up and down roads, or sit there, spewing exhaust, like panting predators pausing from the chase. So we carry on in the false name of progress. We clearcut old growth, fish out our oceans, blight our lakes and rivers. As the world’s oil supply flatlines, we Canadians gloat – we’ve got the oil sands! So it’s full speed ahead as we rush lemming-like to the precipice. Though to be fair, that’s a bad rap. For the lemmings."

It's well worth listening to, and you can find it here. Deverell's piece came on the radio, incidentally, while I was driving past a 70-acre parcel of arbutus-and-fir forest that's up for sale and development. Sad to see how much land is disappearing under the concrete of Canada's suburbias.

Today's music is "Looks" by Mike Doughty.