Dear Editor,

It’s the power play of the future. In my younger life, I felt that there was something out of balance. Social pressures in those days skewed toward trimming the different back, in favour of the similar. This applied to music, sports, art, clothing fashion, food, etc. Then, in the mid ‘60s, a movement arose toward exploring alternative versions of social institutions. A new wave of music inspired new fashions, interest in foreign cultures, foods, and religious modes. Along with that came the notion that the world was made of diversity, and paving every surface, mowing every lawn to resemble a putting green, having every vehicle be big, strong and fuel-hungry, was leading us toward environmental doom. 

Bees need wildflowers, and we need bees. I think we should learn to co-operate with the bees. When a forest is clear cut and then replanted with one kind of tree, the resulting tree lot is susceptible to pests and droughts, where the diverse forest has the depth to resist. When one species fails, another will move in to occupy that niche. It’s been going on that way since life was invented.  

There’s another form of diversity that is often ignored, but our present-day social turmoil is making it more obvious: diversity of nervous systems. I’m sure you’ve encountered some people who are oriented toward intellectual pursuits, and may not be physically co-ordinated. Some are good at visual representation, some at musical expression, some can relate to reading instructions, some require visual or auditory cues in order to learn about the world. We don’t know, here and now, which types of thinking and acting are going to be survival factors in the future, and that future is not far away. When the asteroid hit, the dinosaurs couldn’t survive the change, and their great empire which had lasted over 150 million years, died quickly. Who survived? The little furry or feathery creatures that could burrow or hide in hollow trees lived, thrived and repopulated the Earth. So here we are now; our indulgence in a forever frontier of waste and want, could easily lead to our demise as a species. Those who think differently may be the key to survival. I just hope that it’s not the socially inept billionaires who make up the new world order, but rather those who know how to cooperate, communicate, protect the valuable, and live efficiently. 

Robert Wills, Thorne and Shawville