Corinna B Kincaid-Lowe’s infilling was definitely an offence under the law - but was it a sin ?

As a well known Green supporter, you might be surprised to find me defending an infiller of environmentally sensitive wetlands.

But I am also a Christian.

I am not at all sure that God rose on the Eighth Day and said here be dry land and here be wet land and they shall both remain so, forever more.

Both the good book of Genesis and the good book of Science confirm we humans were very much a last minute afterthought.

(And perhaps a mistake to be regretted?  God only knows.)

God first created the Universe and for billions of years it alone.

He gave it a good slap after it was birthed - the Big Bang was deliberately chaotic - so it would have a form of free will and  allow it to evolve in totally unexpected ways, constantly fascinating to watch it.

Perhaps God got a little bored or simply wanted some new little kids to play with, because for 3.5 billion years God had the bacteria as the only known lifeform  to enjoy : and boy oh girl, do those guys ever evolve and change quickly. Endlessly fascinating and not just for God - if fact, this blog is supposed to be about a guy (Dr Martin Henry Dawson) who found their evolution fascinating enough to devote his life to observing it.

With salient benefits to Humanity : here cue DNA and Penicillin among others.

But Humanity - when did we arrive ? We’ve been around for only a few hundred thousand years. And Civilized Humanity ? Don’t know, still waiting.

And if the murderous rampage last weekend in Nova Scotia is any indication, we could be waiting a very long time.

That reminds me to get back to Nova Scotia and wet lands.

The blunt fact is that Nova Scotia and Canada has an awful lot of wetland in comparison to some other countries.

You can thank the Ice Ages, the last one in particular.

Time was when Nova Scotia and Canada had a relatively few giant rivers that organized all the rain that fell on it and quickly shunted it to the sea. Then giant glaciers moved rocks and soil all about and  left our surface water all deranged.

But eventually, in a very short time, bogs will fill in and in a very long time, rivers will get bigger and fewer.

Then glaciers sweep across the land and the whole cycle begins again.

Fact is, the environment is in a constantly evolving flux, always has and always will be.

Humans are fully a part of the environment too and we too have free will and so like volcanoes, asteroids and covid-19, we sometimes change the environment drastically.

The human moral requirement that we don’t kill or destroy God’s green earth runs into serious philosophical difficulties everytime we thoughtlessly kill earthworms and other creatures digging a foundation for our new house - or when we daily kill and eat vegetables.

People who see “the environment” as being fixed in aspic back in one golden age and now see it being destroyed are actually revealing more about their need for a totally controlled universe to feel at ease, than they are about the science of evolution.

(I read somewhere that those earthworms in your nice Nova Scotia garden needs to thrive are actually invasive species, brought over by accident centuries ago in ship’s ballast.)

Most all species have expanded well beyond from the geographic point where they first became a species, in the technical sense, making them too invasive.

So, surprisingly, but only a deeply philosophical level, I have a glint of sympathy for Mahone Bay’s Corinna B Kincaid-Lowe and her company Nova Stone Exporters for seeing her infilling activities come before the courts.

Because while many rural Nova Scotians like their wetlands and appreciate their ability to support wildlife and to hold and filter ground water, we sometimes just wish there wasn’t so much of the stuff at a particular spot on our property.

I have often wondered if the fairer trade-off sometimes would be that the landowner must create the same amount of wetland elsewhere on their property to make up for what they are infilling on this particular spot.

As reported by safely MSM* outlets like CKBW radio and the Truro Daily News, Corinna B Kincaid-Lower and her company Nova Stone Exporters were harshly criticized by Bridgewater NS presiding judge Anne Crawford when the judge found the pair guilty of infilling an environmentally sensitive wet land in Dayspring, along the usually beautiful La Have River, back in August 2002.

The case was settled and the $18,379 fine (with 10% victim surcharge) imposed in August 2009 - exactly seven long years later.

The judge directed the reason for the long delay to see justice served at Corinna for her “foot-dragging” and “lack of good faith”.

You see, the land itself was only assessed at $13,400, far far less than the fine and the surcharge.

And don’t get me started on the overall huge costs : for the court system, various government agencies, Corinna Kincaid-Lowe and her company’s lawyer fees and lost opportunity costs over those pointlessly seven long years, it all must have come close to a million dollars I reckon.

This was one stubborn person - stubborn and with the attitude that ‘no government is ever going to push ME around’.

Wasn’t there another Nova Scotian described thusly, very recently, in Nova Scotia? Must be contagious.

Yes I know you can find Corinna B Kincaid-Lowe and Nova Stone Exporting cropping up in other government documents on line, but I thought I’d focus on this one for today....