Editor:
An open letter to Forests Minister Doug Donaldson and Environment Minister George Heyman.
We write to express our strongest support for the preservation of Mt. Elphinstone Forest, and all old growth forests in Canada.
My family and I are visiting from the United States. We had the unique pleasure of walking through Mt. Elphinstone Forest yesterday, accompanied by local residents who are knowledgeable about its richness, ecosystem, and beauty.
The cool, clean air in the forest and the abundant and happy life we witnessed were magnificent and could never be replicated if these trees were cut down.
I cannot tell you how rare and wonderful your forests are. We are losing all of these in California because our climate has become too hot now for forests to survive. Now, because California has warmed so much, we are every year in danger of wildfires, and newly planted evergreens have no chance of recreating the splendour of old-growth forests. That era is gone for California, but it is not gone (yet) for Canada, if you do what is right now, by protecting what you have.
There cannot be any economic benefit that would justify the destruction of these forests, because this natural, complex, and life-giving ecosystem – once destroyed – cannot be reproduced. Further, clear-cutting forests in the name of jobs or economic progress hastens climate change at humankind’s peril.
We already are past the point at which we as a global community can reverse the catastrophic effects of climate change, as you and others in government I am sure are aware and are witnessing on a daily basis around the world.
Please stand up for preserving these treasures by helping to turn them into parks, to protect them from ever being subjected to the whims of capital exploitation. You will be remembered and honoured for doing what is right for humanity and the Earth, and you will be able to go home to your families and children knowing that you have done what is right.
Christine Kim, Los Angeles, Calif.
