Imagine…

Swallow vs Crow (PS the tiny swallow wins!)

I read an article this week on how people too often ignore experts’ warnings before disasters (leading to increased risk of loss of life) that reminded me of something that happened here a few years ago. The article talked about the problem of people ignoring warnings of climate change because they had difficulty imagining how things could change as a consequence of their actions.

A few summers ago, a group of young people (not from our road) had gathered on the beach in front of our house. A friend came to join them, driving his large 4-wheeler down the path to the beach, only to discover that it was too large to cross the little bridge (which, of course, is designed to prevent vehicles from accessing the beach, as they can cause a lot of damage to wildlife habitat). They, instead, drove their large vehicle into the marsh along the side of the trail, crushing the grasses and wildflowers in a fairly large area.

Neighbours, passing by on their way back from the beach and seeing the damage, were incensed! We all live here because we love the beach and the wetlands behind the dunes, and understandably are all very protective of our beautiful environment. I decided to walk back to the beach and talk to the young people, to explain that what they had done was upsetting to our neighbourhood. That what they had done was wrong.

The owner of the ATV told me he didn’t think anyone would care that a few grasses were crushed, he didn’t think it was important. I described how we all love our walk to the beach with its beautiful flowers, grasses and wildlife, and how much we care about it. Marsh ecosystems are delicate and it would take 2 to 3 years or more for the scars the machine created to heal. It was wrong to assume no one would care. He should care too. The marshes and dunes protect the coastline and our properties from erosion and damage, especially during storms. He seemed to understand, apologized and even gave me a hug…

Many of us have difficulty imagining outcomes of our actions creating problems for others or leading to serious climate problems until disasters occur. Even warnings from experts are often ignored because many cannot imagine the consequences being worse than they’ve experienced in the past. Scientists know that increasingly severe heatwaves, floods, wildfires and more are a result of small human actions that compound over time.

But it’s hard to see that in our everyday activities. We need to start using our imaginations to picture what could happen as a result of our collective personal actions, both positive and negative. In our neighbourhood, caring for our little piece of coastline by planting grasses, and staying off the dunes, has resulted in dunes and a beach that are growing, not eroding. We have an ever-growing wall between us and the ocean, and a marsh that absorbs the impact of storms when they occur. The signs we post on the beach each year, asking people to stay off the dunes and explaining why, are having an impact, reducing damage to our stretch of coastline – we rarely see visitors to the beach walking in the dunes any more. Our collective small actions are having an effect we can see.

Meanwhile, my passion for the environment pours out in the form of painting the marsh, beach and amazing skies here, over and over! If you’re interested, here is a link to a new, more detailed page I set up on my website:

Art Show