A RATIONALE FOR NATURE PRESERVES 
     
    
   
   
    
     by Hon. J. Angus MacLean, Lewes, P.E.I. 
     
     (excerpted from an address delivered to the Island Nature Trust, Feb. 17, 1983) 
     
    
   
   
    
     As a preface to my limited remarks on the subject of nature preserves, I want 
     
     to make some observations on humankind's attitude to their environment and 
     
     attitude to the web of life of which we are a part. As far back as recorded 
     
     history goes, our species has had one dominant attitude. Humans have for a long 
     
     time, and perhaps always, looked upon themselves as the centre and zenith of 
     
     creation, a little lower than the angels - demigods. 
     
    

    
     This self-important 'mind set' no doubt had survival value in past centuries 
     
     when humans were few and far between and tended to be outnumbered and overwhelmed 
     
     by other forms of life. However, this 'mind set‘, over several centuries, has 
     
     made it devilishly difficult to accept new insights into proven reality. While 
     
     our ancestors could not accept our small role in space, we cannot accept our 
     
     small role in time. 
     
    

    
     We find it hard to accept that our ancestors of a mere 4,000 years ago were, 
     
     at least, in some cases. just as intelligent as we are today, and were able to 
     
     plumb the mysteries of the relative motion of the earth, moon and sun by such 
     
     intricate structures as Stonehenge and Avebury. We find it very difficult to 
     
     accept that our recorded human history of, say, 6,000 years is only about three 
     
     per cent of the human story. 
     
    

    
     All plants and animals are part of the complex web of life, and all animals 
     
     and plants depend directly or indirectly upon each other for continued existence. 
     
     Due to the 'mind set' I have been talking about, I believe that most people, and 
     
     especially urban people, have as yet been unable to make that huge leap in 
     
     thinking that lets them realize the truth that, although we consider ourselves 
     
     human and intelligent, etc., we - you and I — are still part of the complex 
     
     interdependent web of life. 
     
    

    
     Until we can do that, we will not approach other life forms, with the respect, 
     
     almost reverence which befits the Creator's handiwork. This feeling of superiority 
     
     often prevents us from admitting that our species, in the long run, is subject to 
     
     the unforgiving laws of nature like every other species. 
     
    

    
     I have often noticed that the average human cannot visualize the effects of 
     
     a geometric progression. That, perhaps, is why people and their governments are 
     
     so prone to fall victims of debt and the consequent interest payments, inflation, 
     
     and the world population explosion. 
     
    

    
     We are already, I think, after sheep, the most numerous large mammal on 
     
     the face of the earth, and we have already passed the slow part of our multiplying - 
     
     now we are at the explosive stage of our increase. Yet we continue to make our 
     
     every effort to protect ourselves from natural forces that limit numbers of every 
     
     other species. In a surprisingly short time - a few centuries - I think, if we 
     
     keep this up, there will be standing—room only on the land mass of the earth. 
     
    

    
     How can a society plan, or how should it act in a forest of exponential 
     
     curves, all of which are now going almost straight up - costs, public debt, 
     
     population. 
     
    

    
     Well, I think, we should salvage a little of our natural heritage while there 
     
     is yet time. we should have some inkling of what virgin Prince Edward Island was 
     
     like before the white man arrived, by saving a few imperfect examples of what it 
     
     was like. Only in this way, by having a sample for comparison, can we have any 
     
     real idea of what changes we have already made on other strands of the web of 
     
     life on our island. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     continued on page 14