Orion Magazine has a short but powerful slide show of images from Sacred Headwaters, British Columbia. The inherent beauty of this remote and relatively unexplored region is being threatened by powerful forces supporting natural resource extraction. What makes a place worth protecting? Should resource extraction be allowed under minimal-impact agreements? How will awareness campaigns help (or hurt) the critical aspects of public opinion formation?
The site Water Canada, from which I borrowed the above photo, also explains some of the issues surrounding the Sacred Headwaters area, including quotes from National Geographic's Explorer-in-Residence, Wade Davis.
Interestingly, The Toronto Star ran a story today about the mining industries lust for the Yukon's watershed.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1162051--hungry-miners-covet-yukon-s-pristine-peel-watershed-wilderness
Thanks for the link! This is an issue that North America (and the world) will be facing for some time, to be sure. It will be interesting to watch how the impending battle(s) in BC and the Yukon (and elsewhere) will play out. In many ways, people are "waking up" and speaking out in favor of preservation like never before. But, just as much, resource extraction advocates have never had more backing from fast-growing economies like China and India (and the US). Thanks again for the link. And thanks for reading The Topophilian.
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