Letter to the Editor
Contributed by Christopher Trider
The Chronicle Herald
October 22, 2021
Published here
Re: the Oct. 12 opinion piece by Jim Simmons, “Biodiversity: Let’s move away from entrenched viewpoints.”
Mr. Simmons covers a lot of ground in his piece, from the political significance of biodiversity concerns and their impact on the last provincial election, the positive impacts of hurricane Juan, the amount of existing protected land in HRM, the economic benefits from projects “done right,” the skills and improved “environmentally aware” construction techniques in play, innovative solutions that prevent the loss of biodiversity and so on.
The article concludes with the question: “In 2021, can a golf course which has been proposed in an economically depressed area containing valued ecosystem components be developed?” Gee, I wonder what golf course development he is referring to? My guess is the proposal to sell the public, protected, lands of Owls Head Provincial Park to an American developer for three golf courses and a luxury real estate development for profit.
My question is: Why not be honest and transparent about the intent of the article to greenwash the project and help set the table for the private developer? I believe the article does a disservice to Mr. Simmons, to Nova Scotians, and most importantly to the truth.
To quote the article: “We can neither say a definitive yes or no to this question with a locked-in mindset on what to accept and what to reject on biodiversity.”
Wrong, Jim, we can say a definitive no to the sale of the park lands at Owls Head and the development of private golf courses and luxury real estate that will destroy, irreversibly, important biodiversity and significant ecological areas.
A definitive no is both warranted and essential.
Christopher Trider, Beaver Brook
