Friday, November 04, 2005
Haida Gwai IV - the Ecogeeks' Revenge
By coincidence it was Vibes Bahai who took us to the nature trail, brought sightless Sadie back the glasses case she'd left in his car. "Yes it's a good thing I see you again. I can sense your are a special lady - talented." But the trail was no great revival. The biggest oldest trees had been taken - more stumpiness.
A four-doored red stinky ugly polluter (SUV) took us away from paradise destroyed - we were headed to the folk festival at the edge of the world, an hour north.
"I'm a tree faller. Oh, you've heard of us?"
Speechless serendipity. "Uh, well, yeah, sorta. We hear work is scarce with the US ban on Canadian softwood."
"Oh yeah, just got laid off yesterday. Can't complain though. More time for kayak surfing."
"Kayak -- ?"
"Surfing, that's right. You use a short kayak to do all the same stuff you do on a surf board. It's beautiful! It's the next big thing. We're going to start a bed and breakfast and give kayak surfing lessons there. In the meantime, we have her income."
"I'm an interior decorator. Business is good."
Rob the addictions councellor had wondered about foresters. "I don't know how they sleep at night," he'd said. "I really don't."
Another forester kind enough to carry hitch-hikers told us how he'd spent as many years as a tree-planter as he had cutting them down, and it made him feel good.
On our way out from the clearcut I started pulling logs onto the road, just to annoy the loggers. And I put any garbage back on the road to remind them of it. Sadie joined me in my little boy vandalism. We found a sledge hammer used to imprint logs and smashed the lock on the entrance gate. I threw the sledgehammer into a puddle of sledge. Jobs are hard to come by, but I don't know how they sleep at night; I really don't.
A four-doored red stinky ugly polluter (SUV) took us away from paradise destroyed - we were headed to the folk festival at the edge of the world, an hour north.
"I'm a tree faller. Oh, you've heard of us?"
Speechless serendipity. "Uh, well, yeah, sorta. We hear work is scarce with the US ban on Canadian softwood."
"Oh yeah, just got laid off yesterday. Can't complain though. More time for kayak surfing."
"Kayak -- ?"
"Surfing, that's right. You use a short kayak to do all the same stuff you do on a surf board. It's beautiful! It's the next big thing. We're going to start a bed and breakfast and give kayak surfing lessons there. In the meantime, we have her income."
"I'm an interior decorator. Business is good."
Rob the addictions councellor had wondered about foresters. "I don't know how they sleep at night," he'd said. "I really don't."
Another forester kind enough to carry hitch-hikers told us how he'd spent as many years as a tree-planter as he had cutting them down, and it made him feel good.
On our way out from the clearcut I started pulling logs onto the road, just to annoy the loggers. And I put any garbage back on the road to remind them of it. Sadie joined me in my little boy vandalism. We found a sledge hammer used to imprint logs and smashed the lock on the entrance gate. I threw the sledgehammer into a puddle of sledge. Jobs are hard to come by, but I don't know how they sleep at night; I really don't.
Labels: 2001, non-fiction, Travel, west coast
