The B.C. Parks department shut down Raft Cove, a remote provincial park on the northwest coast of 91原创 Island last Saturday. So far, the closure hasn鈥檛 been controversial. Quite the opposite 鈥� the decision seems to be almost universally lauded.
The difficulty began when participants of the World Rainbow Gathering (an anti-capitalist utopian movement and more besides), decided to use Raft Cove鈥檚 beach as the site for their gathering after a jet-fuel spill in the Slocan River forced them to relocate. As visitors (gatherers?) began to flood the site, locals became worried about the danger to the environment.
The park is small and remote, with limited resources (there are two pit toilets) and no capacity to host the approximately 2,000 counter-culture enthusiasts who were expected to arrive. After four days of increasing resistance from locals, including the Quatsino First Nation, the park was closed and the hundred or so visitors who had arrived were asked to leave.
As unfortunate as it is that Raft Cove is closed to gatherers and regular visitors alike, B.C. Parks did everything right by shutting it down.
Participants seemed unprepared for the dangers of the North Island, such as the climate, the high density of cougars and the dangerous logging roads. Some lacked tents, water or food. But even if they had all been properly equipped with cold-weather sleeping bags and bear repellent, there were simply too many of them for such a fragile space with limited fresh-water sources.
Happily, the potential crisis is over almost as quickly as it began 鈥� except for the gatherers, who are now seeking a new site before the full moon. (Yes, yes, I know.)
Gatherers were saddened by the closure, but it seemed as though most of them understood. An unofficial spokesperson for the group, Maureen Rose-Ice, said of the locals who had begun the petition: 鈥淭hese are people that are willing to stand up for their land, and you know there is nothing more 鈥榬ainbow鈥� than that.鈥� Exchanges between locals and gatherers on the event鈥檚 Facebook wall are full of 鈥渓ove,鈥� 鈥減eace鈥� and 鈥渂lessings.鈥�
The minority of gatherers who are upset by the closure are arguing that they respect nature and would never intentionally harm the park, but the fact that their hearts are in the right place doesn鈥檛 mean their presence wasn鈥檛 going to be harmful.
Yet while I agree with Raft Cove鈥檚 closure for these reasons, I can鈥檛 shake the suspicion a lot of the opposition to the gatherers is coming from 鈥渟erves them hippies right鈥� attitude.
(I was planning to sideline into a rant about how the word 鈥渉ippie鈥� is lazy and pejorative and needs to be retired from common parlance, until I researched the gatherers and realized that they do in fact have their roots in the anti-war counter-culture movement of the 1960s and 鈥�70s. So OK, we can call them 鈥渉ippies,鈥� I guess.)
The problem isn鈥檛 just that the park couldn鈥檛 sustain these people 鈥� it鈥檚 that this knowledge wasn鈥檛 enough to dissuade them, so that B.C. Parks had to close it for everyone. This is thoughtlessness, coupled with a sense of entitlement. But lest we pick on people whose hearts are mostly in the right place, how often do we think of the environmental impact of our own travel plans?
For example, anyone who has ever been on a cruise ship is guilty of participating in one of the most environmentally harmful forms of leisure travel available. Cruise ships pump out a truly horrendous amount of sewage, greywater, solid waste, bilge, noise pollution and smoke, the effects of which are magnified along high-traffic routes, such as Alaska鈥檚 sensitive coasts 鈥� and that鈥檚 without mentioning the insane fuel consumption. But we don鈥檛 question people鈥檚 right to take a vacation on a cruise ship.
It鈥檚 hypocritical for 鈥渉ippies鈥� to hurt the environment, sure, but it鈥檚 no more harmful than when the rest of us do it.
I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 a stretch to say that most of us 鈥� theoretically, at least 鈥� want to protect and sustain our natural environment. (I am pretty pro-nature: I like all parts of it that aren鈥檛 seagull-shaped.) Likewise, it鈥檚 not a stretch to say that we all engage in activities that are harmful to it.
We can and should condemn the thoughtlessness that contributed to the closure of Raft Cove, but we shouldn鈥檛 stop there.
