MAP QUEST
Hanns F Skoutajan
When I was a teenager I developed a great interest in maps. A friendly neighbour who had heard of my interest introduced me to topographical maps - 1 inch to 1 mile - of the county in which I lived. I soon learned to interpret the brown contour lines to indicate hills and valleys and then took to my bicycle to explore the territory first hand, identifying the farm houses, the rural schools and churches, the ponds, creeks and rivers that dotted the county that were indicated on the map.
Next I expanded my interest beyond the immediate environment of Hastings county. Whenever I went to Belleville I dropped in at the James and Texts stationery store where I found a large variety of topographical maps. My maps soon covered the whole area from Oshawa to Kingston, north to the outskirts of Ottawa and west along the southern border of Algonquin Park.
As time passed some of these maps became obsolete. None of my maps showed
Highway 401 as it stretches west from Toronto to Montreal. Towns and villages changed radically as suburbs mushroomed on the outskirts of these communities following the end of the war. Roads changed their course, were straightened and went around communities rather than through them as a main street. Railways such as the one running north from Trenton through the beautiful Trent Valley to Maynooth, disappeared when the iron ore near Marmora ran out So did the line from Kingston to Pembroke and from Perth west to Peterborough. Their right of ways can still be identified. Some have been transformed into bike or hiking trails
I am still vey much interested in maps. Our bookshelves are loaded with atlases. The Internet has made maps very accessible. By means of Mapquest I am able to transform paper maps into areal photographs. I enjoyed the photography of Chris Hadfield from outer space as they revealed our whole planet showing mountains and mighty rivers, shorelines as well as all sorts of terrain such as deserts and large urban areas. I was particularly fascinated by maps of the world that revealed the lights of civilization as they lit up large sections of the globe. They also showed the damage that humans have visited upon this planet as can be seen in pictures of the oil sands of Fort McMurray, Alberta or the strange tint of the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Our world is indeed fascinating but also a worrisome place. Viewing this terrain one wonders what will become of it. How can we rehabilitate the damaged areas? The question presents itself - have we gone too far, has our greed pushed us beyond the brink of viability?
From time to time I open the box of these old maps and remember what it had been like in the days of my youth. Undoubtedly there have been some vast improvements but we have also left what seems like irreparable damage.
I don’t want to live in the past but I also do not want to bequeath a despoiled environment to my granddaughter. These old maps raise in me a great sense of responsibility for new generations. Will the maps and photos of today be incomprehensible to the people of the future?
The national anthem of the Czech Republic, the land of my birth, begins with a question: “Where is my home, my fatherland?” It then goes on to describe the beautiful countryside, its mountain and rivers, waterfalls and forests. The question is appropriate for our time and place. Are our lakes and rivers still able to sustain life? Has our thirst for resources, oil and minerals, so transfigured our homeland that the question leaves us frustrated?
The maps of today may soon become obsolete as we transform our environment for better or for worse. What is needed is a sense of responsibility and imagination for what might yet be. There is little time to wait.
SQ 01/06/2014
