My comments on development and sustainability elicited this comment from Mark Groen, who almost moved here, but who maintains an "out of Bowen" Bowen blog:



"Interesting quote from RS; I know that some people will make a lot of money with the development going on at Bowen, but is anyone figuring in the cost of that many more people? Besides the obvious profits of increased traffic for the ferry, restaurants, et al, what kind of price are your Municipal leaders going to charge for the peace and quiet, clean air, and lost fawns running through your camp looking for Mom? Surely that has more value than 200 new chunks of land - it simply does. Are the present island dwellers going to be compensated for their loss of serenity? A large piece of serene land on the British Properties would run you 1.5mil+ undeveloped, divide that by ten years and tell 'em that's what you want for your future losses.



To which I replied:



"There are folks looking at the sustainability issues of cramming that many people on the island. So far they aren't having a lot of success in pushing a wide spread sustainability agenda, but in some ways more people might make that easier, as I've noted. That is due in part I think to the fact that, like the rest of Canada, a sparse population in a large land thinks it can live forever. When we start to get crowded and the water supply starts becoming unreliable and the fawns mewl at night, it has a way of convincing people that maybe there is a price to pay.



But we'll see. That's what makes this point in time so interesting, and why it is important for me to blog it. I'm noting the changes and every day is a benchmark. It's like taking note of what temperature the water is so that when it reaches boiling it'll be a little more obvious that I haven't let myself get poached..."



Just thought I would note that.