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| The Environment and You
[Please note: Workshops will be held on this and other related topics at Mabou Ridge Centre in the summer months.]
The environment is the whole atmosphere in which we live. It comprises the natural seasons with warmth and cold, the elements of weather, with rain and sun, and the social context in which individuals live in the world, country, nation, and community. We cannot live outside it, but we can decide to live in harmony, co-operation and nurturance, or we can live in opposition, contradiction and isolation.
Nurturing the environment means that we appreciate the natural rhythm of all living things, that we respect life around us, and that we act to encourage the blossoming, rather than the destruction of all these biorhythms. This holds true in myriad ways – from ensuring the continued growth of endangered species of plants by looking at them rather than picking them, to our participation in promoting better ways to harvest, rather than destructively clearcut our forests. It means we manage waste, we renew or conserve resources, and we live in a way that treats the environment as a living, breathing entity. Because it is. It is part of a greater whole and part of you. You, too, are part of a greater whole and part of the environment.
It also means that we advocate for peace and justice, rather than anger and war, at every social level.
When you are at Mabou Ridge Centre for Holistic Living, you will see that the environment is only contained where it is required for pasture or the growing of crops. The remainder is left for you to enjoy in its natural state. Plants are not picked unless they are to be harvested, and something is always left for the next picking. We encourage our visitors to respect the environment, not to litter, and to help maintain it by treating it gently. This policy also holds true for llama treks, where we keep to a minimum any evidence that we have even passed that way.
As a note of interest, Cape Breton was rated as 2nd in the world out of 115 destinations (next to the Norwegian Fjords) as a place which employs sustainable tourism in the March 2004 issue of National Geographic Traveller Magazine. You can download the article here. [PDF, 2 MB]
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