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The end of Eden?
To the Editor:
It’s already November, and I’ve still got tomatoes on the vine. Native, June-blooming rhododendrons are flowering again, and hummingbirds are still here and coming to the feeders.
Following the wettest summer on record, we’re in a drought. Here in Tuckasegee, it’s only rained twice in the last two months. With my woodpile ready for winter, I’ve not even thought about starting a fire. These are strange days, indeed.
Usually an early riser, I find I’m getting up later – 8, 9, 9:30 a.m. It’s as if my subconscious is resisting, not wanting to face the day. I’m usually a hopeful person, but these days my mood is more often one of resignation. I find I’m walking about looking for signs of natural beauty while I still can.
The weather, usually a news afterthought, is now the lead story. Flooding. Hurricanes. Earthquakes. Tornadoes. Tsunamis. Drought. Global warming. Teamed with stories of pandemics, greedy politicians, oil-mongers, corporate raiders and mindless terrorism, the “end-of-the-world” cartoons are beginning to look more pragmatic, even prophetic.
In the past 200 years – following what had previously been millennia of relative environmental stability – environmental instability has been on the rise. What we’re looking at now and into the indefinite future, is a dubious lifestyle based on maintenance and repair. We may be witnessing the end of Eden.
While I’ve been talking about a global problem, what’s going on right around me provides a good local example, and it’s more the reason for my lethargy.
Excess, surreal wealth and overpopulation have become my neighbors in Tuckasegee. Less than two miles up the road, Bear Lake Reserve has sold 200 lots and plans, I am told, for 500 more. That would bring 700 new homes, almost overnight, into a community that is one of the most rural in Western North Carolina. The economic and cultural effects of this development of second (and third) homes owned by people (median age 39) primarily from out of state, will be shocking, if not devastating, to longtime residents.
Even closer, the 60-acre tract adjacent to where I live is in the hands of its third real estate agent/developer, and there are rumors of a shopping center being built there to serve the Bear Lake gated community – as a convenience so residents won’t have to drive to Sylva or Cashiers to shop.
N.C. 281 in front of my house is already over-run with traffic. With 700 more families and a shopping mart next door, the pristine bottomlands of Canada community will soon look more like Lovesfield near WalMart. The relative peacefulness and serenity that has been my life for the past 13 years will be replaced by more heavy equipment, truck and SUV noise, not to mention the glaring all-night lights that will replace the stars in the night sky. It will be the end of an era; the “end of Eden.”
During a recent address at Warren Wilson College, 91-year-old ecologian Thomas Berry said “we’re looking at a new era in Earth history. I call it the ‘Ecozoic period.’ Ecology will dominate both the news and our consciousness. With combined planetary perils ever-present, we’re looking at a new paradigm for humanity. This will mean a new era of activism that will fall predominantly on the shoulders of the younger generation, who will inherit the dubious job of recovery and re-inhabitation of our natural habitat – saving what’s left of Eden – manning the social programs that will care for the unexpectedly displaced and destitute at a time when food, health and shelter can no longer be taken for granted.”
A similar message was given to an all-to-sparse audience at Western Carolina University in October by scientist and global climate change expert William Schlesinger.
The writing is on the wall. The garden-world of the planet Earth is fast disappearing, and it’s being replaced by a noxious environment created from man’s disrespect for nature and his greed for material and personal wealth.
If this is true, then what incentive do I have to get up with the sun and go out into the daylight to work in my garden, to gather firewood, or to throw a trout-line into the Tuckaseigee River?
No wonder all I want to do is sleep. I’m unable any longer to see the world as one where natural beauty and diversity abound, and dreams seem a better option.
That’s a pity, as once upon a time we had it all – a Garden of Eden – before we turned our heads and looked away.
Thomas Crowe
Tuckasegee
Catman’s clarification
To the Editor:
Justin Goble wrote a fine article last week that covered my cat shelter and my award from Cat Fancy Magazine as the nation’s “Ultimate Cat Lover” and title of “Mr. Cat Fancy.”
However, there was one section of the story dealing with the shelter that needs clarification. This deals with the statement that said, “About half of my cats have disease, and because their stress level is low they can resist it.”
That statement was made in defense of the way my shelter is set up. Unlike most shelters, where cats are housed in cages, I allow my cats to roam free in several large rooms. Studies have been done that show that about half of the cats studied carry a pathogen within their system. The same is most likely true of all animals. As long as the immune system is strong, the animal will ward off disease, but if the immune system is compromised, the disease may express itself.
Cats in cages or small enclosures have a higher stress level than cats living in a more natural environment. Because my cats enjoy a home-like environment, their stress levels are lower and immune systems stronger. Because of this, I feel my cats are healthier than cats living in a conventional cage or restricted area. Because of the way I house my cats, I have less sickness among my cats than other shelters.
It is my contention that the emotional health of the cat is just as important, if not more important, than living under conditions that are more sterile than the natural environment. My shelter is kept clean, but I do not feel it necessary to hose it daily with Clorox, a practice I feel leads to increased stress, which could lead to a higher incidence of disease.
During the eight years I have operated a shelter, I have never experienced an incident where there was a pandemic and had to close the shelter. There should be no worry about adopting one of my cats; all have visited a veterinarian, are tested for disease, are free of leukemia, have been vaccinated against rabies, distemper and feline leukemia, and have been spayed or neutered. All come with a month of free pet insurance and I offer a money-back guarantee to ensure satisfaction.
Harold Sims
Cullowhee
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