Our obligation to the future is to protect what's left
In the article in the August 12 issue of Coast Community News "Chamber demands action on overgrown foreshore", Debra Wales and the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce seem to believe that the Ettalong waterfront exists to enhance the views from nearby restaurants and to protect view lines from the town centre and adjacent developments.
There is no consideration of the scene from the waterway or Wagstaffe peninsula for those who prefer to see less human impact and where the vegetation in question actually softens the view of dominating foreshore buildings.
If the wide, pristine sandy foreshore shown in the "before" picture existed today, does Debra Wales think it would offer any protection for the area to hold back high seas or the surging waves of an intense east coast low?
And this is the predicted future as climate change strikes our coastline.
Vegetation is essential foreshore protection.
If this self-interested belief in the priority of views is widespread, it perhaps explains the vandalism and death of so many mature banksia trees along the Ettalong waterfront.
Is it not possible for visitors, locals or tourists to walk a bit further and enjoy the view from the paths either side of the vegetation?
Sadly this wave of tree vandalism is not unique to Ettalong and it marches across the Coast waterways, destroying the natural environment that many residents want to enjoy.
Birds and wildlife can't live on your waterfront verandas and we can't eat money.The recently-released State of the Environment Report 2021 paints a bleak picture of our impact on our land.
Two statements jump out.
"Australia's environment is deteriorating" and "Environmental decline and destruction is harming our well-being."
Of course there is more detail in the report but In short: our time of profiting from domination over our environment must end.
We should stop stealing from our future or, more bluntly, stop fouling our nest.
We have an obligation now to future generations to take responsibility to protect what we have left and live in harmony with our environment.
Does anybody care?
SOURCE:
Email, 14 Aug 2022
Carey Buls, Saratoga