One of the cornerstones of environmental literacy is the ability to detect and analyse patterns and understand how those patterns connect. Those can be patterns in the behaviour of animals and plants, weather and climate change, and the physical processes and properties of Earth. It can also be applied to politics and responsible governance.
In the natural world, for example, what is behind the connection between a decline of wolf populations in the North and a dramatic rise of the Canada Jay population? Turns out that when the wolf population is eliminated, the moose population booms. With all those moose around, the moose tick population explodes. In mating season, the male Canada Jay loves to offer a fresh juicy moose tick to his prospective mate, which leads to a lot of baby jays! It also leads to a severe infestation of ticks. More on this in a later post.
Applied to human behaviours, the search for patterns is equally revealing. Consider the old biblical adage from Timothy 6:10: “Love of money is the root of all evil,” along with the more modern observance that “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Add a little lust into the mix and you have the Holy Netflix Trinity of sex, money, and power that makes the wheels of a corrupt government go round and round.
Let’s say, hypothetically speaking, that we observe a pattern of powerful monied people donating to politicians’ campaigns and fundraisers, and then being granted the fast track to their projects without regard for the rules of law. Let’s say that those politicians claim that they are only helping their constituents move the projects along, and show little or no remorse when accused of breaking the codes of conduct for their office. Let’s say that they then publish glowing media reports about how happy their constituents are while also attacking any citizens who expose their questionable integrity.
That particular pattern would indicate a less than responsible state of governance. One in which money and power, rather than the voice of the people and the laws of the land, manipulate the decisions of government. If we introduce sex into that mix, consensual relationships between, let’s say, a Governor and a Land Baron, then we have a conflict of interest situation which would render any decisions made by that Governor suspect and invalid. Hypothetically speaking.
As Hamlet said, “More honoured in the breach than the observance. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. That one may smile and smile and be a villain.”
There’s an old saying that the fish rots from the head. It actually starts to rot from the guts and that rot spreads through the whole body. Maybe it’s time to get some fresh fish.
The way I see it
So the Queen and the Governor summoned the Nature Guard to supervise the clean-up and certify that the hole in the ground was rehabilitated. So it was written, so it was done! Over the years the hole in the ground became a beautiful lake surrounded by green fields filled with life – flying, fluttering, crawling, hopping, slithering and loping creatures of all shapes and sizes! And the people called It their Wildlife Sanctuary.
When he could walk, we hiked together everywhere, and worked together at the Caledon-King outdoor campus of the Toronto-Montessori School setting up gardens, orienteering courses and high ropes course challenges. My wife got us hooked on geocaching, so every family road trip became an adventure. We went on canoe trips, watched the whales spouting from a campsite in Cow Bay, canoe trips in Algonquin Park, camping on Pancake Bay, kayaking in Nova Scotia. It truly was the best of times.
My third child is simply a child of light. A boy who moved with non-stop energy and a joy of exploration that was a wonder to behold. As a result, of course, in many of the pictures I have of him as a child he has no front teeth. You can only swing through so many trees and climb so many boulders before nature takes its course with an abrupt stop now and then.