The Problem With Roads

Prelude

The guest blogger for this week's feature is my sister Cailey Ward. She is just as passionate about animals as I am, and as inspired to provide a voice for them. Cailey and I grew up being taught about the environment and the animals we share this Earth with. We knew from just about day one that we are a part of one big interconnected system where we rely on all of the other living beings here just as much as they rely on us. Because of this, we collectively dedicate each day of our lives to reconnecting ourselves and hopefully inspiring others to reconnect with the life around us and to give it the love and respect it deserves and requires in order for us to live peacefully.

War on Wildlife

Emma Czornobaj, at 26 years of age, is a criminal. Her crime? She stopped on a Montreal highway to help a family of ducks cross safely. She was convicted of two counts of criminal negligence causing death and two counts of dangerous driving causing death. She received a sentence of 90 days in jail and community service, and her license was revoked for 10 years. Once a university graduate with excellent grades and a promising future, according to her mother she is not the same person she was before her ordeal and no company will hire her.

More recently a fifty-year-old man was accused of causing a four-vehicle crash in Nanaimo, British Columbia. His mistake? Braking to avoid hitting a squirrel darting across the highway. The man’s vehicle was rear-ended by a commercial food truck and two pick-up trucks. Luckily, none of the motorists needed medical attention, although one of the vehicles was severely damaged.

Again in Ottawa last week a woman was videotaped on the side of the highway corralling ducklings into a box. The OPP were called to the scene but found neither the woman, nor the ducklings when they arrived to investigate.

These events made the news around the world, igniting a debate among news site commenters, between those ridiculing the Emma’s of the world and those who blamed the other drivers for driving too fast and too close. So, who really is to blame, and why does it matter? Why is it that YouTube is flooded with a multitude of cute animal videos, including people saving little ducklings from sewer grates to much fanfare; yet, when collisions occur we are very quick to blame those same people for dangerous, negligent behaviour and label them as “crazies”?

We live in a “car culture”, a society of impatient, intolerant people, focused solely on getting what we want and where we want to go NOW, then quick to lay blame when something goes wrong along the way. People get particularly aggressive and impatient when they get behind the wheel of a car. With increasing congestion on our roads, urban sprawl and new highways like the 407 extension tearing through the last remaining natural habitat in the “Greenbelt”, one of the greatest casualties in our race for bigger, better, faster is wildlife. It is no wonder that collisions involving wildlife are on the rise. According to police, one out of every 18 motor vehicle collisions in Ontario involves a wild animal. Also on the rise are complaints about “nuisance animals” wandering into urban areas looking for food. The future is rarely bright for these animals as fear usually causes people to take drastic action. Yet, more of these human-wildlife conflicts are expected as more natural habitat is destroyed.

Even in the Peterborough area, the last remaining wildlife habitat is losing the battle against “progress”. Peterborough City Council has approved an extension of the Parkway through Jackson Creek Park, one of the few wooded areas in the heart of the city. Its purpose? To shave a few minutes off the drive for motorists travelling through the city. Even environmentally sustainable developments like solar farms, which should be good news for the area, are unfortunately being proposed on forested land rather than on the large areas of vacant, unused farmland in the area.

Is it worth it? People just don’t think about the consequences of our obsession with the car and growth. We rationalize each decision in isolation and dismiss the impacts as insignificant. Individually, maybe, but perhaps we should be thinking about the bigger price being paid for our impatient, self-absorbed strive for more, and the combined impacts we are causing. Sure, cars and roadways help us get places quickly and development creates jobs and economic growth, but they also destroy our natural areas, pollute our air and contribute greatly to climate change. To keep our vehicles on the road we also rely on oil and gas extraction, which causes further impacts. Development of the Alberta Oil Sands, for example, is not only producing excessive carbon dioxide emissions, it is also tearing up thousands of kilometers of natural habitat and polluting Alberta’s waterways with toxic tailings, killing fish and wildlife. Large flocks of migratory birds have landed in Alberta’s tailings ponds. The birds have become covered in toxic sludge, killing most of them. Fish have also been found in rivers downstream of the tar sands with malignant growths and mutations.

In contrast with our own indifferent attitude about wildlife is the respectful relationship that Canada’s indigenous people have with the Earth and all living things in it. Aboriginal people see themselves as belonging to the land, as an interconnected part of the ecosystem, based on a strong spiritual connection to Mother Earth. According to this view, the earth’s resources are to be used with the understanding that we will use only what is needed, with great care, awareness and respect so that future generations will not be affected. This is very different from the common view in our society that considers humans as more important than other forms of life and views the needs of current generations as the greatest priority, without much regard to future generations.

So, for the sake of your own safety, and for the well-being of others that share our roads…and the planet, slow down people! Life is not a race to the finish line! It is time for each of us to consider the effects of our behaviour and our choices on others; to show some respect and patience and to take some time to relax and enjoy the world around us.

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