Hail you Almighty human!  Praises and praises!

The great good Earth sings in it’s glory.  The majesty of all of it’s creation, the birth of the living being, the living planet, the living soul.  Hail to the dawning of the new day, the new season, the new life that begins today.  The planet unveils yet another of it’s awesome wonders, the birth of the great wild, in all of its wild and wonderful ways.  The shy, but glorious wildflower, the dainty and tiny new born deer, the rushing of the spring waters as the snow fades and melts into rivers.  The passing of the snow of winter, leading to the blessing of the greening of spring.

Hail to the almighty planet, as we praise the warm and comforting springtime, with its  promise of fresh lakes to swim in, recreation for our bodies, hiking and biking for sport, athletes galore.  Out of the cramped confines of weight rooms, pools, gyms and recreation facilities, come the swarms of diligent humanity.  Running, biking, swimming, playing, the great outdoors calls to us, with the demand of the insistent call to opportunity.  Come!  Don’t miss this fabulous day.  Play outdoors in the beauty and the serenity of the great land.  Behold the wonders of the planet.  The divine forest to clean our air, the fragrant flowers to capture our attention.  The pristine, clear lakes to dive into and to play upon.  Water!  Clean and pure.  To drink, to play in, to exercise in, to cool our bodies on these hot days.  Water, straight from the master plan of the planet.

Lucky are we, to be the living, to be the life force that propels the world to a destiny at the beck and call of a human called mankind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjia7BsP4Bw  Canada’s Tar Sands – the most destructive projectanadian on Earth?

So here is the other side, the side outside the mapped, protected area of national parks.  The area of controversy and somewhat alarm as the excavation for industry takes it’s toll on the area of northern Alberta.

We glory in the divine of the great planet, as the Earth welcomes us with each new day.  Calling us to rise from our slumber and to enjoy the discovery that is presented to us.  Something new, for each day is something new.  People with wildlife, people marveling at  the great wild.

Yet the controversy continues and grows.  The plunder of the north of the province, demands the attention of all of us.  Environmental destruction, disease and illness, a growing concern of wasteland and destruction.

As Canadians, do we actually need this?  Do we need the multi-million gallons of oil that the tar sands produces? Do we need the loss of the great land, the great wild, our way of life, to swim and play and to enjoy the bountiful beauty of the great Canadian  outdoors?  Do we need to loose it all for something that we really don’t consume ourselves?  How much of this oil is for us?  Not enough to matter to us.  Not enough for the destruction, for the plunder, for the immense waste of our land, for the loss of life of our people, for the environmental damage and the illness that comes with it.  Not enough for the pollution, for the habitat loss to the wild and to us.  Not enough for the continuing damage, for loosing the fishing hole, the lakes to canoe on, our tent site and our camping spot, the shy deer and the roaming bear and the endless forest that provides our air to breathe.

Do we need this?  Do we need to throw it all away for someone else?  We are the voyageur, the coureur de bois, the adventurer who came to climb a mountain, canoe a river, homestead on the prairie.  We are the people of this great North.  To the wise and the diligent, we call to you.  Protect us, almighty ones.

written be Dr. Louise Hayes

June 5, 2015