Climate Change and the Human Prospect

Last night , Heather and I had the opportunity to see a screening of the documentary Climate Change and the Human Prospect produced by the Centre for Local Prosperity (CLP).

The screening was organized by the Municipality of Kings County in Kentville. The video was put together by Andrea Vandenboer, Visual Blueprint Productions of Annapolis Royal. It documents the vision from the retreat at the Thinker’s Lodge, Pugwash, Nova Scotia in late September 2017. The four-day retreat brought together over twenty thinkers from Atlantic Canada and beyond.

This story goes back to late Winter 2018 when we were snow-shoeing on South Mountain along the Rifle Range road, off the Inglisville Road. We discovered significant clear-cutting on crown land. Through local contacts, Neil Green agreed to take drone photography of the devastation. Later Neil was contacted by Andrea for permission to include his photography in the documentary.  Our interest was to see the drone footage within the context of Tim Habinski, Warden of Annapolis County, comments from the retreat.

Habinski stressed the importance of sustainable harvesting of our forested lands. He compared the cutting on South Mountain with the selective cutting on Windhorse Farm in Lunenburg County.

Andrea Vandenboer has created a very effective visual summary of the retreat. Some of the highlights for me were the comments by Albert Marshall, Mi’kmaq elder on the rights of Nature, as well as AV Singh on the need for decolonization of the mind. We were exposed to Michael Schurman on Project Drawdown and Adam Fenech on sea level rise in PEI. There is much more in the 43-minute video.

The audience reaction in Kentville was on the follow-up actions. There was interest in alternative energy, especially Energize Bridgewater and their vision of the future. Mayor, Peter Muttart described a number of the Kings County initiatives. A second reaction was the need to share the documentary vision with the younger generations. The film deserves to be seen by larger and more diverse audiences across rural Nova Scotia. Thus, action should include screenings in small communities, schools and college/university This will generate conversations about local stories. the roles of the CLP and the provincial and municipal governments.

A final note. On returning home, I received a call about relocating the bottle recycling plant from Middleton to Lawrencetown. Thinking about the question, I realized that ‘Geography Matters’. While recycling facilities exist at Greenwood and Annapolis Royal, Lawrencetown is approximately in the middle. The behaviour of rural citizens is to go to Middleton for shopping, and so drop off used bottles there. Can we change behaviour?

As we look at possible action within the context of the retreat vision on ‘Climate Change and the Human Prospect’ in rural Nova Scotia, it is important to recognize that ‘Geography Matters’. There is a strong ‘sense of place‘. We must also respect the rights of Nature. My conclusion is that innovation will happen at a community by community level. That is why we must share our stories.

Acknowledgements

Appreciation to Peter Muttart, Municipality of Kings County for the video screening and follow up discussion. Andrea Vandenboer for notification of the event.

References

The book Drawdown. Drawdown

The film ‘Albatross’ Albatross