Is there no place left that is sacred; will there be no place to escape to any longer? Must we always push the limits in our attempts to maximize the profit and minimize nature’s beauty? Do we really need to continue to scar the land all in the name of progress and riches?
Have you ever sat by a lake in the wilderness and marvelled at the natural beauty all around you? As you sat there you soon became aware of the incredible silence, a silence so complete that it almost seemed to force a pressure on your ears.
Have you ever anchored in a quiet seaside cove and listened to the gentle breeze moving along the shore rustling the trees, hearing the cry of the gull or the eagle and feeling the complete peace that lives in such places? Sound will travel over water for unbelievable distances. You will hear a voice from someone in a boat anchored a city block away and swear they are right beside you. Such places are out there but every day they are under the threat of commercial invasion.
Have you ever heard the sounds of a busy gravel/rock quarry grinding away day and night, where there are bulldozers and excavators tearing at the earth, where there are huge conveyors that move the gravel across great distances?
These monsters will create the greatest sound pollution of them all. A gravel conveyor has thousands of rollers and with the dust from the gravel it’s impossible to mask the screaming of these rollers as the loaded belt moves over them, a scream that will drown out all other sound. If this quarry is by a body of water that sound will travel on for miles, and the lights that flood the entire working area every night reveal the unbelievable amount of dust being created in this hellacious place. Open-pit mining creates a greater scar on the earth than any other industry.
If you have ever anchored in Desolation Sound, north of Powell River, and enjoyed the complete peace that reigns there, plus the incredible beauty, you better get out there soon because it could all be gone in a flash. The provincial government wants to give permission for exploratory drilling to allow for the establishment of a gravel/rock quarry on the Sound and the hell on earth that would happen will be there for all to enjoy.
For those who say the gravel and rock is essential for progress, well, I have to tell you, all of the product from such quarries will be destined for the USA, that is where the demand is and that is who we are bowing to if we allow this farce to occur.
Jerry Eskes is a Powell River resident.
