journey of a citizen (searching for Earth's reality
from within the dysfunction of Canada)
david mcnicoll
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Where to begin? Somehow I had gotten it into my head to protect natural areas. I didn't have a plan, just a hunch, a feeling about the planet. An unspoken core value. In the mid-1980s the door to my local government in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the capital of Canada, was wide open. We had been invited in to consider our land use. So I strolled in along with many other citizens.
It should have been straightforward to protect a little greenspace on this planet for the other species but, as you might already suspect, that's not the way it turned out. And therein lies a curious and twisted tale.
As we journey, I will offer apparently disjointed perspectives and voices, while attempting to maintain a view of the planet via my local government in the context of the law of the land.
Using my science background, I spent thousands of hours researching government documents and writing hundreds of pages of critiques. Although most of the citizens who appeared before standing committees at city hall were content to have their say without receiving any feedback, I kept pushing until I reached court.
In 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2003, I appealed our (globally disastrous) land use to an adjudicative tribunal called the Ontario Municipal Board. In all four cases my appeals were thrown out. I never lost but I was silenced. No citizen should ever be silenced.
So more than 25 years of trying to protect global biodiversity (ecosystem functioning) through my local government have flown past. I conclude that to date I have failed miserably.
Of course this critical, ongoing failure, which includes avoidance of global reality (our existence), is directly led by the elected citizens. But, given there is only one planet and humans are a social species, we are all part of this dysfunction of goals and human process.
It is possible that no one society knows global reality, including how we are kept alive on this complex planet. Perhaps we are part of a failing civilization with inappropriate dominant core values (values that do not address the sustainability of our planet in the context of humans and our activities).
However, despite the grim prognosis, journey of a citizen (searching for Earth's reality from within the dysfunction of Canada) is also about the challenging mystery of our lives as we search for an appropriate personal balance and integration into the reality of the planet including its biodiversity. It's a journey we all share.
Although I started at Latidute 45 North/Longitude 76 West, you might wish to substitute your own latitude and longitude. But we will still end up on the same planet. And if we are diligent and lucky, perhaps we can live (and die) in a shared universe of ideas. For the real universe is there to discover.
Last Updated: 2020. This website is hosted by National Capital Freenet, a community-run, non-profit organization.
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