Flooding has hit British Columbia again. News reports overflow with stories of property owners sandbagging their homes, their farms, their businesses. Oliver, Kaleden, Tulameen, Cawston, Cache Creek -- the chorus of afflicted communities swells day by day.

            Meteorologists tell us that the Mission Creek watershed has the highest snowpack ever recorded. Municipal crews remove ancient willow trees along the banks of Mill Creek to facilitate flow. Mudslides close highways. Culverts wash out. Hundreds of homes are ordered evacuated. 

            And I haven’t even heard about what might be happening farther east, in the Kootenays. Or farther north, along Highway 16. 

            I heard a politician pontificate, “It’s a one-in-70-year event.”

            Really? Weren’t we saying the same thing during last year’s floods?

            Connect the dots, people! Connect the dots!

Predictable effects

            If you clear-cut the forests on high ground, you destroy the root systems that hold the soil together. Mudslides are inevitable. You also remove the shade that sheltered last winter’s snowfall from spring sunshine. Snow melts faster. 

            Fly over the high ground, especially in winter, and you’ll see a patchwork quilt of white and dark. White where the land has been laid bare, dark where massed conifers still stand. In some areas, it looks like half the land has been methodically scalped. 

            Without a network of roots to retain moisture, spring meltwater rushes down every gulley. 

            So of course we have floods.

            Where forests haven’t been clear cut, they’ve been burned. Once upon a time, warring nations applied a scorched earth policy, burning everything that might benefit an enemy. Today, we too have a scorched earth policy -- caused largely by human carelessness. A tossed cigarette, a neglected campfire, an industrial spark, kills off thousands of kilometres of vegetation, causing flooding in following years.

            And where the earth hasn’t been logged or burned, in urban areas, it’s built up as sub-divisions. Tier upon tier of roofs and roads. 

            If you cover half of every lot with a roof that sheds water, that rainfall has to go somewhere. If you pave the roads and driveways with impermeable asphalt, the rain that falls on them has to go somewhere. So we build storm drains and sewers to flush rainfall into already overloaded streams. 

            No wonder we have floods. 

An inconvenient tree

            I feel, sometimes, that our society hates trees. 

            When developers take their lofty plans to municipal councils for approval, they promise to protect the native foliage. To maintain natural contours. 

            But as soon as the excavators and bulldozers hit the ground, promises evaporate like puddles in the noonday sun. Trees become obstacles to efficiency and profit. Everything gets flattened. The surface of Mars looks more hospitable to life. 

            And this is presented as progress! Growth is good for us, we’re told. 

            Of course, after people move into these new subdivisions, they can plant their own trees. Which will take another 40 years to mature. And they can plant grass. Which they will have to water. Because the natural water that used to keep soils moist and fertile has all been channelled away.

            First we damage our environment. Then we try to repair it.

Connecting the dots

            It seems to me beyond argument that we humans have affected what happens to the rain after it falls. But there’s controversy over whether humans affect rain before it falls. Is increased rainfall an anthropogenic effect, to use the technical term?

            A scientific consensus now rates anthropogenic activity -- including exponential population growth -- as the root cause of global warming, climate change, and species extinction. To say nothing of plastic pollution in the seas and toxic chemicals in our air and water. 

            Against that consensus rises a vociferous chorus of denial. It insists mere humans can’t possibly have that much influence over natural matters. Humans are too insignificant, the deniers insist. And besides, some add, even if we do affect our environment, it’s all part of God’s plan. So it’s God’s problem, not ours. 

            I don’t buy it. I’ve read the arguments about wobbles in the earth’s axis, about solar cycles, about volcanoes and tectonic shifts. I see nothing there that has changed dramatically in the last 200 years. 

            But the environment has.

            I have absolutely no doubt that we humans have a direct cause-and-effect relationship on local floods. But I don’t know where to draw a line between local effects and global effects. Between micro and macro. 

            Where does “local” end and “global” begin? Might micro and macro be the same thing?

            Me, I’m increasingly convinced that “local” actions have a cumulative effect, shaping environmental changes around the world.

            Do you connect all the dots?

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Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved.

            To send comments, to subscribe, or to unsubscribe, write jimt@quixotic.ca

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YOUR TURN

Reg Nicholson in New Zealand, “Loved your article about Unsung Heroes. People all over the world are talking about the brave Canadian policeman who managed to arrest a criminal without blasting him with bullets. Hope some cops below your southern border paid attention.”

Anne McRae had similar sentiments: “Thanks thanks thanks. That should be compulsory reading for all reporters.”

Cliff Boldt mused about the media bias towards bad news: “Pope Francis was once quoted as saying: ‘When a single tree falls, we all hear about it.  But no one hears a forest growing.’  Is this an appropriate quote? In part I think it is.”

Peter Clark suggested, “I would like to suggest an extension to the definition of heroes to include those who respond graciously to intolerance and abuse from intolerable people; those people who choose patience and understanding when confrontation and humiliation would be the norm.  Here in the UK I have witnessed this particularly, but not exclusively, from overstretched NHS workers and police. Truly heroic to choose the peaceful (in the spirit of shalom) option.”

Another letter making a U.K. connection came from George Brigham: “The word ‘hero’ is too cheaply used these days, for example of sports personalities or people who suffer serious illness. Fire-fighters and paramedics are among the everyday heroes. Since my life was saved in 2007, I never see an ambulance on the road without a brief prayer for all on board.”

            George declined my invitation to tell more about his life-saving experience.

Robert Caughell remembered some other heroes: “Clint Eastwood directed a movie about three heroes who disarmed another man with a weapon on a French train, starring the actual three men who did it. 

            “Many Canadian right-wing media were disappointed that the van driver could not be labelled/defined as a terrorist belonging to the usual groups that they blame for everything.”

Bob Rollwagen commented about the media: “We have been numbed by the constant level of noise around us -- radio, TV, cell phone, social media, 24 hour news. All repeating the same so-called news. It’s like our brains as we get older -- we lose our filters and soon we lose our audience.”

Isabel Gibson wrote, “I have a friend who stays cool in day-to-day emergencies because she mentally rehearses what could reasonably go wrong and thinks about what she should do, if and when. It's a practice that's allowed her to respond promptly and sensibly in lots of unexpected events.

            “I'm impressed by people who act well in the moment, and think many of us would do better if we rehearsed in this way. It doesn't cost anything to get mentally ready.”

David Gilchrist wrote about having to put together a last-minute sermon: “I had 2 hours to pull together a sermon on the vine and the branches… I wanted to give examples of what I consider to be the fruits, bearing in mind Mt. 25. While trying to recall something appropriate, I opened your column, and read about the heroes. Exactly -- the ‘sheep’ on his right did what was right in God’s eyes without thoughts of being heroes or winning ‘brownie-points’ for heaven. Exactly the thought I needed to get started on the most quickly put-together sermon in my nearly 60 years in ministry. Thanks.”

Sheila Carey wrote, “I hope that Ken Lam and James Shaw Jr. are both given actual medals. And that all those other helpers and first responders receive the love and support that they deserve. So many who saw and dealt with things that can’t be ‘unseen.’  The rest of us need to show our appreciation.”

            And speaking of appreciation, Sheila added, “My thanks to Phyllis Giroux for her response [last week’s letters] – mine was one of the ten letters not sent. She says it so well.”

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TECHNICAL STUFF

If you want to comment on something, write me at jimt@quixotic.ca. Or just hit the ‘Reply’ button.

            To subscribe or unsubscribe, send me an e-mail message at the address above. Or subscribe electronically by sending a blank e-mail (no message) to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca. Similarly, you can un-subscribe at sharpedges-unsubscribe@lists.quixotic.ca.

            My webpage is running again -- thanks to Wayne Irwin and ChurchWeb Canada. You can now access current columns and five years of archives at http://quixotic.ca

            I write a second column each Wednesday, called Soft Edges, which deals somewhat more gently with issues of life and faith. To sign up for Soft Edges, write to me directly at the address above, or send a blank e-mail to softedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca

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PROMOTION STUFF…

To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols.

            Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at wwwDOTsinghallelujahDOTca

            Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://wwwDOThymnsightDOTca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)

            Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca>

            I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom

            Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawoodATgmailDOTcom to get onto her mailing list.

            Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom or twatsonATsentexDOTnet