Dreams of faraway places
21/05/15 05:22
I don’t know if others do this, but I carry in my mind a list of things I’d like to do someday do. That list includes visits to places that I have not yet been. High on that list are two very different places, Northwestern Canada and Belize. It is technically possible to drive to both locations from where I live, but it is unlikely that driving would be my mode of travel to Belize. My dreams of the Yukon and Northwest Territories have included purchasing “the Milepost” a mile-by-mile guide to the Alaska Highway and pouring over maps.
My dreams of Belize have taken a different form. When I was a young teenager, my cousin, who was older, had graduated from college and earned a graduate degree, appeared to be settled and well on his way to middle class life as a chemical engineer living in California with his wife and two children. Then, through a long process of decisions, they decided to take their life in a different direction. They loaded up their van an sailboat and headed to Central America. When they arrived in Belize, I barely knew where it was. The tiny country, formerly known as British Honduras, was just achieving its independence from Britain while it was still dependent upon the presence of the British military to keep it from being incorporated into Guatemala. There were plenty of maps of Guatemala in those days that showed Belize as simply a part of that country. Culturally, however, Belize was a different place, with its English language and many customs left over from the days of British colonialism.
My cousin and his wife have written extensively of their life in Belize. Two books, “Treehouse Perspectives: Living High on Little” and “Chance Along: A Wind Worth Waiting For” chronicle their adventures, decisions, and transformations from the pursuit of a more conventional life in California to living aboard a sailboat they made by hand from materials that came from their land in Belize.
More than the lure of place, which is the major attraction of the Northwest for me, the lure of Belize is the wondrously adventuresome and highly sustainable lifestyle my cousin and his wife have forged. These days my cousin and his wife spend most summers in Montana and I get to see them from time to time, but the adventure of visiting them and sailing with them on their boat is wonderfully inviting.
As idyllic as their life seems, it is evident, from our conversations - and from the news - that things are changing in Belize. The lure of commercialism, of wealth and possessions captures the minds of Belizean people as much as it does the rest of us. In recent years the government of Belize has allowed development that has threatened the pristine country they currently enjoy. In 2013, a company bulldozed one of the country’s largest Mayan pyramids to gather rocks for a road project. The Nohmul complex was a ceremonial complex, dating back at least 2,300 years and was considered to be the most important archeological site in northern Belize, near its border with Mexico. Belize is dotted with hundreds of Mayan sites and archaeological tourism is an important segment of its economy. The destruction of this heritage is irreversible. Many locals believe that the economic impact of the new road will never match the potential impact of preserving the cultural sites for future generations.
Now the pristine waters off of the coast of Belize may be threatened. The coral reefs that protect the coast of Belize are world-famous for their beauty. Belize is one of the top diving sites in the world. Belize is home to the second-largest coral reef in the world. Those beautiful waters have provided a living for my cousin and his wife. People who wish to charter their boat and look at the waters provide income to maintain the boat. Fishing provides food for their sustenance. the Belize Barrier Reef system provides tourism, fishing and storm surge protection to the tiny country. About 25% of Belize’s GDP comes directly from tourism. The value of this beautiful offshore system is not calculable, but certainly it is hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
In 2013, a decision of the supreme court in Belize invalidated all past offshore oil drilling licenses in Belizean waters. The ruling was that previously-issued licenses did not employ safety or environmental standards. Despite that ruling, however, there has been a strong push for oil extraction. The promise of short-term financial gains is inviting for a country with many who are impoverished. Although many argue that not only would the oil be extracted, but also the wealth taken away from the people of Belize, there are others who have been convinced by the oil companies that great wealth would compensate them for any potential environmental damage. And, as usual, the oil companies promise that their industry is clean and no damage would occur.
It is a big risk when one considers Belize’s Great Blue Hole, a 124-meter sinkhole that is a UNESCO world heritage site. Like the Mayan Pyramids, this is a one-of-a-kind irreplaceable wonder. Were it to be destroyed by an oil spill or other possible effects of extraction, there is no replacing it.
All of this talk, of course, makes me even more eager to visit Belize. It seems as if the pristine place where my cousin and his wife raised their children and about which they have so eloquently written, might not be so pristine much longer. The selfish side of me wants to get there and see it before it is too late.
Of course getting to Belize for me probably means flying, which, of course means using fossil fuels, which means creating demand for oil production. That is, the issues that Belize are not created by some strange class of evil “others.” The demand for the oil is created, in part by the decisions I make. My staying home might in fact be better for Belize than a visit. Before I am too quick to point the finger at others, I need to pay attention to my own choices and how they affect this world.
It isn’t a dilemma I will solve today, but rather one worthy of some pondering and care as I make decisions about my life and the experiences of what remains of my time in this world.
My dreams of Belize have taken a different form. When I was a young teenager, my cousin, who was older, had graduated from college and earned a graduate degree, appeared to be settled and well on his way to middle class life as a chemical engineer living in California with his wife and two children. Then, through a long process of decisions, they decided to take their life in a different direction. They loaded up their van an sailboat and headed to Central America. When they arrived in Belize, I barely knew where it was. The tiny country, formerly known as British Honduras, was just achieving its independence from Britain while it was still dependent upon the presence of the British military to keep it from being incorporated into Guatemala. There were plenty of maps of Guatemala in those days that showed Belize as simply a part of that country. Culturally, however, Belize was a different place, with its English language and many customs left over from the days of British colonialism.
My cousin and his wife have written extensively of their life in Belize. Two books, “Treehouse Perspectives: Living High on Little” and “Chance Along: A Wind Worth Waiting For” chronicle their adventures, decisions, and transformations from the pursuit of a more conventional life in California to living aboard a sailboat they made by hand from materials that came from their land in Belize.
More than the lure of place, which is the major attraction of the Northwest for me, the lure of Belize is the wondrously adventuresome and highly sustainable lifestyle my cousin and his wife have forged. These days my cousin and his wife spend most summers in Montana and I get to see them from time to time, but the adventure of visiting them and sailing with them on their boat is wonderfully inviting.
As idyllic as their life seems, it is evident, from our conversations - and from the news - that things are changing in Belize. The lure of commercialism, of wealth and possessions captures the minds of Belizean people as much as it does the rest of us. In recent years the government of Belize has allowed development that has threatened the pristine country they currently enjoy. In 2013, a company bulldozed one of the country’s largest Mayan pyramids to gather rocks for a road project. The Nohmul complex was a ceremonial complex, dating back at least 2,300 years and was considered to be the most important archeological site in northern Belize, near its border with Mexico. Belize is dotted with hundreds of Mayan sites and archaeological tourism is an important segment of its economy. The destruction of this heritage is irreversible. Many locals believe that the economic impact of the new road will never match the potential impact of preserving the cultural sites for future generations.
Now the pristine waters off of the coast of Belize may be threatened. The coral reefs that protect the coast of Belize are world-famous for their beauty. Belize is one of the top diving sites in the world. Belize is home to the second-largest coral reef in the world. Those beautiful waters have provided a living for my cousin and his wife. People who wish to charter their boat and look at the waters provide income to maintain the boat. Fishing provides food for their sustenance. the Belize Barrier Reef system provides tourism, fishing and storm surge protection to the tiny country. About 25% of Belize’s GDP comes directly from tourism. The value of this beautiful offshore system is not calculable, but certainly it is hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
In 2013, a decision of the supreme court in Belize invalidated all past offshore oil drilling licenses in Belizean waters. The ruling was that previously-issued licenses did not employ safety or environmental standards. Despite that ruling, however, there has been a strong push for oil extraction. The promise of short-term financial gains is inviting for a country with many who are impoverished. Although many argue that not only would the oil be extracted, but also the wealth taken away from the people of Belize, there are others who have been convinced by the oil companies that great wealth would compensate them for any potential environmental damage. And, as usual, the oil companies promise that their industry is clean and no damage would occur.
It is a big risk when one considers Belize’s Great Blue Hole, a 124-meter sinkhole that is a UNESCO world heritage site. Like the Mayan Pyramids, this is a one-of-a-kind irreplaceable wonder. Were it to be destroyed by an oil spill or other possible effects of extraction, there is no replacing it.
All of this talk, of course, makes me even more eager to visit Belize. It seems as if the pristine place where my cousin and his wife raised their children and about which they have so eloquently written, might not be so pristine much longer. The selfish side of me wants to get there and see it before it is too late.
Of course getting to Belize for me probably means flying, which, of course means using fossil fuels, which means creating demand for oil production. That is, the issues that Belize are not created by some strange class of evil “others.” The demand for the oil is created, in part by the decisions I make. My staying home might in fact be better for Belize than a visit. Before I am too quick to point the finger at others, I need to pay attention to my own choices and how they affect this world.
It isn’t a dilemma I will solve today, but rather one worthy of some pondering and care as I make decisions about my life and the experiences of what remains of my time in this world.