If a tree falls and everybody hears it, then what?

People keen on environmental conservation at all costs, find it hard to believe that there are actually other taxpayers out there who favour developing the land so that they and their children can enjoy it. The latter WANT playgrounds and water parks and belvederes and trails to be built for their enjoyment.

The former are not so inclined and would rather preserve –as is-- what nature has so lovingly provided. How do both schools of thought co-exist and find a middle ground? Through compromise.

Although everything that took place at Orée-du-Fleuve was in strict accordance with municipal regulations pertaining to the protection of trees, the questions raised by Mr. Jobin are legitimate. Why were the mature trees not maintained? Why did they have to be cut to make room for a new park design and necessitate the planting of 45 new trees? Isn't that contrary to common sense? I can ask one more question: if such an act did not go against municipal regulations, shouldn't these regulations be changed to reflect the Island's "vox populi"?

One important distinction: Island residents continuously complain about residential development, but fail to somehow understand that land slated for development is owned by developers. Developers develop. It would be naïve to assume otherwise. Unless someone can make the non-development of land a financially viable proposition for them, they will take the land that belongs to them and build revenue-generating property on it.

That being said, clear and strict guidelines must be established to protect what does belong to the borough – and by extension, the people. Our natural heritage is sacred and once lost, it can never be recovered. Local administrations need to think long and hard about what they choose to erase and residents have to constantly remind them of what matters most to them. Local citizens, working hand in hand with local administrations, CAN make a difference; acting as watch dogs to ensure the best possible solution is always found. Environmental conservation, like democracy, depends upon active citizens.

One final note: it's important not to confuse activism with spewing insults and a knee-jerk reaction to immediately assume ill of an administration's will.

Writer Kurt Vonnegut once said that a book critic was "like a person who has put on full armour and attacked a hot fudge sundae." I feel the same way about people hurling insults at politicians, especially at the local level. They are such easy targets, there's no need to get ugly.