Sacred Headwaters

I am a subscriber to Orion Magazine, or at least my son and daughter-in-law subscribe for me. In the latest issue there is an article which reflects a new book by Wade Davis called The Sacred Headwaters. Here is a description of the book:

In a rugged knot of mountains in northern British Columbia lies a spectacular valley known to the First Nations as the Sacred Headwaters. There, three of Canada''s most important salmon rivers -- the Stikine, the Skeena, and the Nass -- are born in close proximity. Now, against the wishes of all First Nations, the British Columbia government has opened the Sacred Headwaters to industrial development. Imperial Metals proposes an open-pit copper and gold mine, called the Red Chris mine, and Royal Dutch Shell wants to extract coal bed methane gas across a tenure of close to a million acres.

I had never heard of the Sacred Headwaters before this article and a bit of online research even though this is an area roughly the size of Great Britain and in my home and native land I simply wasn't aware of what has been unfolding. That seems to be the way in this vast land. Were many of us tuned in the Oil Sands development and the impact on First Nations people and the environment until it was a multi-billion dollar juggernaut? Industry seems to trump aboriginal rights and the quaint notion that resource-rich real estate could be considered sacred, imbued with the presence of the Creator.

Take a look at the slideshow created by Orion. http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/audio-video/item/sacred_headwaters_a_slideshow/

I will not despair, I will not despair, I will not despair...