Sitting here in my little log cabin in the
woods, I look out at the "modern" world with perhaps a
different view from what you see on television. First of all, I
don't have a television. My view of hurricanes and line-ups at
gas stations come from what I hear on the radio, and what I see
in the weekly
newspaper. And more importantly, the view I
come away with is shaped by my observations of nature.
When a natural disaster comes to the forest,
it can be just as devastating to the local wildlife as
hurricanes are to people. Lightning strikes a tree, and it
dies. It may have been the tallest tree in the forest; it may
have been the healthiest, the strongest, the parent to many of
the trees that surround it.
In a dry summer, such as the summer of '05,
the force of the lightning may ignite a forest fire. Many trees
will die, many birds will lose their homes, many other kinds of
wild creatures may lose their lives.
After the fire, all we see is the blackened
trees, the charred ground. But this is not the end of the story
for the forest. Almost immediately, new life emerges. Insects
arrive to feed on the dead animals and the dead trees, and
other scavengers come as well. Soon, birds will arrive to feast
on the burgeoning insect population.
Seeds will fall from the cones of some of the
pines, many of the leafy trees will send suckers up from the
roots. More seeds from unburnt areas will arrive on the wind,
and some seeds that have lain dormant in the soil will begin to
sprout. Life returns quickly to the forest.
Fire is a cleansing agent in the natural
forest. It transforms the dead and rotting sticks on the ground
into potash to nourish the new life. It kills pests and
diseases that may have weakened the older forest. It allows
sunlight to reach the forest floor to encourage new growth, and
the standing dead trees provide just enough shade so the new
growth does not overheat.
In nature, disaster brings renewal.
I see this happening with the hurricane
disaster too. The people who were hit by the storm have an
opportunity to learn from the destruction, and to
rebuild.
Will they use this opportunity to move to
higher ground? Will they rebuild using energy efficient
technology to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels? Will
they design their new city to make better use of public
transportation?
And what about us? Even though the storm and
destruction was thousands of kilometres away, the ripple effect
could have major implications on
our lives.
The price of gas is the most obvious, and the
most immediate. Will we begin to take energy conservation
seriously? Will we drive less, carpool more, take the bus, or
maybe just stay home with the kids on weekends and learn to
enjoy each other's company? Will we see our way to renewal that
improves our quality of life? Or will we simply bemoan the loss
of quantity of stuff we can afford, due to rising energy
costs?
Viki Mather lives by a lake near Sudbury.
