River Alchemy
The Ultimate Irony
Mega-dam builder learns to paddle writer Jeff Jackson
Gourmet Salmon on Toast I
taught a man named Arthur to kayak. Art built dams for
a living. He didn’t see the irony in that.
Art didn’t build just any dam. He wore the white
hard hat on the dam—China’s Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River. As one of many Canadian consulting firms involved in this hydrological behemoth, Art’s company helped build Canada’s reputation as the pri- mary exporter of dam technology to the world. “The Three Gorges Dam is probably among the best-known social, environmental and financial disas- ters in the world,” states a report released this past summer titled Damming Evidence: Canada and the World Commission on Dams. A new reservoir the size of Lake Superior, forcible displacement of 1.5 million people, a Chinese government that has crushed protest and is riddled with corruption—nothing has stopped Canada from funding this disaster, even when no one else would. Loans totalling $189 million are extended through our Export Development Corp. (EDC) at a time when even the World Bank won’t touch the project and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)—which originally put $14 million into a feasibility report—has pulled the plug due to the controversy.
Canadian interests have also been involved in major dam projects in India, Senegal, Colombia, and on Chile’s Bio Bio. The most recent to raise the ire of environmentalists is a project on the remote jungle Bacal River in Belize, fronted by a Newfoundland com- pany but making headlines for its destruction of rare habitat and questionable economics.
All of these projects have been platforms for envi- ronmental and human rights abuses. While we have some of the strictest environmental guidelines at home, we ignore these guidelines when funding “development” outside our borders. Canada continues to support mega-dam projects, essentially ignoring procedural guidelines established by the World Commission on Dams (which is funded in part by
Canadian tax dollars), rearranging far-away ecosys- tems and the lives of individuals we will never meet. I didn’t talk about any of this with Art, as much of it was unknown back in the Dancer days of kayaking and the ignorance-is-bliss days of environmental poli- cy. But I did see the irony in a dam builder going kayaking, and I wanted Art to see it too. Art was older, with a shock of black hair that any man his age would envy. He was a fun fellow to be around, and he loved his teenage son who was learn- ing to paddle too. The pair of them shared a mutual pride in the other: “Look at my dad go!” “Look at my son go!” I felt privileged to be a part of what they were sharing. Every day I would broach the topic with Art—this irony—and every day it failed to connect in his mind. We even paddled past a dam each day, to which he gave no more than a glance with neither professional nor paddler curiosity. Art was on vacation. He was enjoying the thrill of being pulled downstream, glow- ing when his son learned to surf, and surprising him-
Nothing has stopped Canada from funding this disaster.
self when he rolled up in the whitewater. At these moments, kayaking on this river was all there was. At the end of our five days Art shook my hand and passed me his business card, thanking me for a won- derful time. The tag line on his card read, “Engineering Global Solutions.”
So off Art and his son drove. Back to the city, back to work for Monday morning. Back to supervising the pouring of tons of Canadian concrete to stop a river— engineering a global solution.
Jeff Jackson is a professor in the Outdoor Adventure Program at Algonquin College in Pembroke, Ontario.
1 can wild Pacific salmon 2 tbsp mayonaise 1 tsp pepper 1 roma tomato 2 tbsp feta cheese 1 tbsp olive oil 4 slices fresh multi-grain baguette
1 copy of Adventure Kayak*
Drain salmon. In small bowl combine salmon, mayo and pep- per. Toast bread. Slice tomatoes. Spread salmon on toast. Top with tomatoes. Crumble feta cheese over tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil. Place on plate and serve.
Enjoy with a fresh copy of AdventureKayak, Canada’s Kayak Touring Magazine.
*available at fine newsstands or subscribe online at
www.adventurekayakmag.com
2004 Spring 17
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