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Sunday 18 February 2018

THE BARD ON TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS

FILLING IN

They're filling in along the shore,
On mudflat, bog, and gravel bar.
At riverside and through the Bay
No buffer zones enforced today.

In many towns Municipal
In Provincial Parks or Federal
The excavators and big trucks
On Preserves are dumping muck.
Land levelled past the water line,
With, gravel, soil, and rocky berm.
At Bonne Bay, or in Codroy Cove,
On wetland, water, the dirt is hove.

Structures placed by sea and pond:
Houses, sheds, wharves, beyond.
To brace the view and winter winds
That raise the heat bills to unkind.

Once, were castles built on hill
For defence, or view-the-mill.
Now, they sprawl across the tide
To access scene; show house pride.

Vanity that impairs the coast?
To shelter pleasure boats a boast!
No public right-of-way enjoyed,
And wildlife habitat destroyed.

Has Tourism OK’d new view,
Or Fisheries the coastal strew?
Environment effects assessed?
Storm and tidal flood ingress?

Were permits got for work before?
Were regulations all ignored?
What's the point of Governments?
If toothless time on paper spent.

The Common Good is being seized:
The access asset, the public ease.
Those fillers-in should restore
High-water lines as were before.

John Tuach
February 08, 2018