journey of a citizen
(searching for Earth's reality
from within the dysfunction of Canada)

david mcnicoll

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Chapter overviews
Chapter 1: Distracted by reality (two humans in a canoe)
I canoe with Janice Dowling from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

It was a four-month journey that would join us to the planet forever. I can't overstate the impact that canoeing has had in creating my love of this planet. It leads to the deepest forces that drive me forward.

Chapter 2: Babe in the woods (approaching government)
I approach my local/regional level of government to advocate protection of natural areas. I note (with hindsight) that both the local and regional governments have no constitutional existence. They are the will of the province of Ontario, Canada.

In September 1989 the city Planning Department released A Vision for Ottawa and asked for public reaction. The document was peppered with terms like vacant site, infill, unused land, underutilised parcels, remaining vacant residentially designated land and open space.

To find even a whiff of the word river in the plan one had to look under Functional Support Components, then 3.0 Leisure Resources and finally 3.2 Linear Open Space System. It was sure a stretch to imagine going for a paddle on a "linear open space system."

Chapter 3: Escaping government's gravity (approaching science)
Reverting to my disused, university training in Chemistry, I read mainly scientists' views about biodiversity.

Chapter 4: Twilight zone (a real law avoids reality)
I critique Ottawa's first supposedly green draft Zoning By-law and show it's dysfunctional with no common good. Including no ability to protect natural areas.

The Zoning By-law was a huge, ponderous articulation of an overwhelmingly irrelevant universe -- one with only buildings, roads and pipes.

Words like ecology, environment and natural area were left undefined in the Zoning By-law. However, the phrase Adult entertainment parlour was defined with 33 words.

Chapter 5: Space cadet force-lands (running for elected office)
I run for elected office at the regional level of government (Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, Ontario, Canada).

Chapter 6: Trouble's braids (Canada falters - the rule of law)
On four separate occasions I try to use the rule of law in Ontario, Canada, to force adequate land use where I am resident. Then I try to link law in Canada to the reality of the planet.

Chapter 7: The Cat's Meow (a fictional response)
When a feral cat gives birth to four kittens in our backyard, Janice and I are forced to deal with the situation. Later we cowrite a film treatment starring the cats.

Chapter 8: Leaking half-empty cup (a measure of success)
I continue to read about such matters as biodiversity, indicators, sustainable development tools, ecosystems and reality. This chapter is a continuation of Chapter 3, largely the thoughts of scientists. Complicated though this matter of biodiversity (including our existence) is I make some progress.

Chapter 9: Politics of ignorance (Canada falters - process)
I assert that, where I am resident (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), the citizens are not part of a real government. Put another way - the government is dysfunctional.

Chapter 10: Controlled flight into terrain (Canada falters - goals)
Where Janice and I live (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), the local government's real goal appears to be the handing over of the real land of Ottawa to developers (financial institutions) in the context of the dominant core values of western society. Instead the goal should be the common good (as directly implied by the law and indeed by the word government).

Chapter 11: Circling the orthodoxy (clash of core values)
I describe the implicit clash between my personal core value of appropriate balance (towards a living planet) and the current western societal core value of growth (implicitly towards a dead planet). So, this chapter is largely human-oriented (anthropocentric) which is not my normal inclination. Put another way, my core values as a citizen occur in the context of elected citizens embedded in the core values of western society.

Chapter 12: Biodiversity junkie (reaching for a living planet)
I reflect on my desire to sanction all biodiversity.

Chapter 13: Silver canoes (two humans on Earth)
I travel with Janice by canoe around Cockburn Island and along the south shore of Manitoulin Island (Lake Huron, North America). Earth is our home.

Appendices
  1. A pipe and a bridge
  2. Overkill (a film treatment)
  3. Extinct mammals
  4. Comparison of green definitions (Ottawa's Official Plan and Zoning By-law)
  5. A species list (Great Canadian Bio-blitz)
  6. Legal appeal of local land-use plan (author's Preliminary Comments)
  7. Legal appeal of local Zoning By-law (author's sworn statement)
  8. Comments to Planning and Environment Committee (regarding a further urban expansion)
  9. Legal appeal of an amendment to local land-use plan (author's sworn statement)
  10. Legal appeal of local land-use plan (author's sworn statement)
  11. Peer group discussion (Ecological footprinting)
  12. Sustainable development tools (a glance at ISO 14001 and Factor 10)
  13. Man and biodiversity (the slow train of scientific research)
  14. Sample Motion (For Better Government)
  15. City's purchase and sale of public land
  16. Electoral reform in Ontario (author's presentation to the Citizens' Assembly)
  17. Ottawa's human population projection (reality dysfunction)
  18. Lecture notes (Journey of a Citizen)
  19. Author's critique of city greenspace document (characterized by inadequate science)
  20. Author's comments (on City's draft greenspace master plan)
  21. Periodic table of the elements
Consolidated References
The book contains more than 250 references.

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Home  Book overview  Chapter overviews  Buy the book  About the author/Contact  Real politics