You see, not only are decisions being made today that will directly affect your future, right now, you are also entering your years of peak creativity.

As Ilona Dougherty argues, “young people from 15 to 25 are at the height of their lifetime ability to be creative, to be innovative. All these incredible abilities peak during that time of life, and they have the full intellectual capacity of adults. We underestimate young people all the time and we need to stop doing it.”

Ilona knows better than most. She co-founded Apathy is Boring as a student and is the co-creator of the Youth & Innovation Project at the University of Waterloo. Her ground-breaking research has proven that your ideas, with help and refinement, are the very ideas that can help us create that better balance – that better tomorrow.

“The research is very clear”, Ilona says. “For young people to grow up to be healthy, engaged adults, it’s all about having a sense of purpose and having an opportunity to make impact.”

In other words, you might feel that you’re just one student, without the power or influence to determine how late you can stay out on the weekend, let alone solve the world’s problems, but the reality is quite different.

As Ilona explains, “The only way to be a change maker is to be a change maker while you’re young.”

That’s right: You’re powerful because of your age. You can solve any problem we face because of your creativity.

“Young people have unique abilities while they’re young that society needs.”

Exactly, Ilona. And we all need your creativity. Right, Dr. Aleem Bharwani?

“Our most influential and impactful ideas will come from young people today who are growing up in this world.”

Adults – leaders – are so immersed in the problems we face they often can’t see the forest for the trees.

We need you to take a new look at old, if worsening, problems to see if there is something everyone else has missed. We need you to understand how hard truths collide and find ways to do better by different peoples and different communities – do better for more people and for nature.

Because we can all agree that we need to do better.

Good points, but let’s get really specific.

Scientists have analyzed Earth’s record keeping system – fossils – to understand how often natural selection creates natural die-out – what’s known as the Background Extinction Rate. And though no one is certain – fossil records aren’t quite the Wayback Machine – most believe one species goes extinct per Million Species Years.

Our current extinction rate, depending on what mathematical equation you believe and use, is ten-to-10,000 times higher than the planet’s Extinction Background Rate – the ‘natural’ natural selection, if you will.

Which is a big spread, but consider this:

Of the species that have been known to exist and disappeared during the last century, their loss should have taken 800-to-10,000 years to occur. Not the 100 years it actually took.

And that’s according to a study that used a “conservative background rate of two extinctions per million species-years.”

Globally, nearly 70% of every monitored species is either decreasing in population or range or both.

In Canada, a recent, comprehensive report that combines data from every level of government suggests that of the 50500+ species we monitor, 1 in 5 are facing at least some risk of being lost and for 2000 of those species, they’re at high risk of disappearing from Canada’s landscape.

Those are big, worrying numbers – and the problem is increasing. Fast.

How fast?

Well, according to the World Wildlife Fund, the largest environmental organization in the country, their research suggests that the average populations of threatened species in Canada have declined by almost 60% – with some data suggesting that for half of those species in decline, they’ve lost more than 80% of their population numbers in just 50 years. It’s a major reason why more than 500 species are legally listed as being at risk of extinction by the federal government.

For all of these reasons, some have concluded that we’re entering a period of mass extinction – a cycle where roughly three quarters of all species disappear in a span of a few million years. There have been five in history – of course, the most famous being the one that whacked the dinosaurs.

If we’re entering a sixth mass extinction, unlike past extinction events, this one is human-caused, scientists tell us. But that is, of course, a debate and, frankly, not a particularly helpful one.

Why?

Because the why distracts from the real issue: Un-natural natural selection at a rate well above the Background Extinction Rate means only one thing: Biodiversity loss.

“The bad news is that in most parts of the world it is declining and it’s declining at all levels.”

David Cooper was the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity – a United Nations body that works to coordinate global efforts to protect biodiversity.

“Life on earth in the broadest sense depends on biodiversity and the ecosystems that biodiversity makes up.”

And it’s not like there’s just one issue driving the global – or national – biodiversity decline. 

Habitat loss. Pollution. A changing climate. The exploitation of wildlife. Invasive species. All of these are massive problems and each issue is connected to the others, making solutions even harder to come by.

As David tells us, “there’s no single answer, so I would say: be wary of simple solutions to these complex problems.”

Indeed, protecting biodiversity will be hard work and will require creativity. But David explains there is good news.

“People are more likely to take actions if they see other people also taking actions.”

That means we each have a responsibility to do our part – to be better stewards, to be engaged citizens – not only by offering up new ideas, but also by reinforcing belief in ourselves, our peers and our communities that we can help biodiversity; that we can create a better tomorrow.

How? Where to begin?

Why not right here: Your classroom – Mount Robson Provincial Park?

In the spaces we’ve set aside for nature, there is an unanswered question of how best to balance people and nature within these landscapes.

You see, we need people to experience nature in order to understand, connect and care for it. But in experiencing nature – especially parks like Mount Robson – there is a growing worry that we’re killing it with kindness.

“We’re balancing people recreating with the conservation of these spaces.”

Elliott Ingles is the Area Supervisor for Mount Robson and he’s passionate about the stewardship of this park

“That balance is just such a fine balance. But I love that BC Parks are free. We don’t want to put any barriers on people being able to come here and enjoy this park. It does mean you’re going to get huge amounts of people coming.”

And there’s no denying Mount Robson is a special place. As Elliott explains, “it’s in the middle of a massive protected area, being Jasper (National Park) in the East, Kakwa (Interprovincial Park) in the northwest. We’ve got a chain of unbroken protected areas through two provinces that enable us to protect that biodiversity.”

You see, Mount Robson is more than a famous view of a 3954-metre hunk of rock – the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies.

This park is also home to four eco-regions – including a rainforest – that sustain the ecosystem’s 182 bird species, its 42 mammals, the four resident amphibians and one species of snake. That’s the biodiversity Elliott speaks of. But as much as this park’s biodiversity matters, it can’t be in a vacuum. Diversity of flora and fauna? That, of course, is biodiversity.

Elliott believes that “without this place being protected, it wouldn’t look like this. It wouldn’t be the same.”

It’s a window into a world that’s disappearing from many of our landscapes – a reminder of what we fear losing and what we want to protect.

But are we protecting the park? Are we really protecting any of our parks if we, in fact, are visiting them too often and loving them too much?

“The magic in nature is only there if people ensure that it’s there.”

Harvey Locke is global expert on and advocate for biodiversity. And, as he explains, even if some people don’t love parks, most do – a lot.

“One of our most fundamental challenges with parks is their wild success, which is accelerating now. The demand for parks in North America? The visitation levels are going through the roof.”

But love can be overwhelming.

Harvey tells us “if you look at park visitation levels and the feeling of busyness in a place like Banff – just seven years ago versus today – it’s a stunning difference. It just feels way more crowded, way busier now than it did even seven years ago.”

And then add-in that COVID-sparked awakening about the natural gems in our own backyard, plus a world determined to get the best content to spike TikTok views, and guess what? We very well might be loving our parks to death.

But as Harvey points out “The problems that you’re trying to solve with parks are the kinds of problems that you want to be trying to solve.”

Harvey is right. Compared to everything else that threatens nature, this issue pales in comparison.

But it’s still not a great problem. It is an issue.

In loving parks too much, we run the risk of diluting our most critical biodiversity hotspots, places like Mount Robson and Banff, further exasperating an already overwhelming, global issue.

Plus, in many ways, this is our litmus test for how – if – we can balance people and nature everywhere. After all, if we can’t strike the right balance in a place created to help nature, the question becomes: If not here, where?

See? This is an important issue. We need to get this balance right. And not just for the sake of Mount Robson. Why? Because for all its pitfalls, tourism still matters, argues Rick Antonson argues.

“The more people get out and see the values of other people – the more that people go to parts of the world that they don’t know, where they’re confronted with things that give them a little bit of fear, apprehension, and uncertainty – in those moments, people are more attuned to learning.”

Rick is the former head of Tourism Vancouver, as well as a celebrated travel author and global expert on the tourism industry. And as Rick explains, “not everyone wants wilderness. And the parks program has tried to link the nature experience with the urban experience for visitors. And because they’re there, they understand and appreciate – and ideally become advocates for – the protection of the rest of the land.”

And as important as that is, there is a drawback, according to Rick.

“Tourism can go from good to bad to downright ugly. We’ve seen places where over-tourism has brought about a total disconnect with the local community.”

And in Mount Robson, the negative impact of tourism is being felt.

Elliott Ingles tells us that “as more people come here, we are going to have to get creative.”

But creativity, when you’re in the weeds, is hard and that’s why science journalist Niki Wilson, who has covered this story extensively, tells us “I do think it’s possible to love these places to death.”

Her view – this issue – is not limited to Mount Robson or the other Canadian mountain parks.

The world’s first and still one of its most popular national parks – Yellowstone in the United States – has watched tourism numbers increase by more than 40% since 2008.

And though a flood or a pandemic might affect numbers in a specific year, tourism experts believe that when everything is equal, the numbers will continue to climb, continuing to surpass the already ridiculous numbers: almost 5 million park visitors a year.

Even the eye test suggests Yellowstone is in trouble.

To see iconic views like Old Faithful geyser, traffic jams in the park resemble rush hour on the 401 in Toronto or Highway 1 in Vancouver.

And then there are wildlife jams, Niki Wilson tells us.

“We are seeing more harassment of wildlife again. We’re seeing people that either just don’t have the education to show the respect or just don’t care and don’t respect wildlife.”

Wildlife jams worry biologists on park roads in Yellowstone, Banff and Jasper, but what about when wildlife jams happen on a major highway? Mount Robson’s Elliott Ingles says, “it’s hard. It’s really hard.”

Mount Robson, unlike Yellowstone, is home to a major highway and main line railway, as well as the Trans Mountain pipeline and the nation’s fibre optic communication right-of-way. That means industry, tourism and nature all must get along.

And sometimes they don’t.

Elliott explains: “You’re trying to move people off the highway – getting photographers to take their photos and move on – because they’re congesting the highway and it becomes dangerous.”

Tourists, visiting the park to see a bear in the wild, must battle truckers, driving the highway, just trying to do their jobs. That sets the stage for conflict and accidents – for wildlife and for humans, as Elliott adds.

“It’s a real challenge and I’m worried about the individuals in their vehicles as much as I am about bear. I work with the volunteer fire department and I don’t like having to see those guys come out here after an accident.”

From a biodiversity standpoint, the vast majority of tourists who visit Mount Robson each year are focused on the hundred-kilometre stretch of front-country highway. That’s the good news, Elliott tells us.

“This place really has an incredible amount of untouched wilderness.”

But it’s not all good news, Elliott says.

“I imagine some wildlife just isn’t wild anymore with the amount of visitation we get.”

That’s an issue because, as animals become used to people – when they become habituated – conflict arises.

It’s a particular issue with bears who begin to associate people with food. And as you likely know, a fed bear is a dead bear and we observed numerous bears being fed while in the field for Nature Labs, all of which had to be killed.

The people who did the feeding? In all cases that we observed, they did so because they lacked nature literacy; they didn’t know it was wrong; didn’t know the bear would have to be killed to prevent a potentially a deadly attack.

But if animals are becoming less wild in the front country, as Elliott argued, it’s just another challenge for his small team to manage. But it’s not their only challenge.

Truck drivers drop grain along the sides of the highway when they’re warned police are ahead, weighing trucks and handing out tickets to those towing illegal, excessive weight.

Spilled grain means easy food for animals like bears that struggle to get their calorie count up high enough to survive in this unforgiving wilderness.

Truck drivers drop grain along the sides of the highway when they’re warned police are ahead, weighing trucks and handing out tickets to those towing illegal, excessive weight.

Spilled grain means easy food for animals like bears that struggle to get their calorie count up high enough to survive in this unforgiving wilderness.

It’s a problem that Elliott says “is definitely causing us major issues. We had a dump where somebody had spilled grain down the side of the road and we were pushing bears out of that area for a long time. Bears were struck.”

And animals eating grain from the side of the highway, Elliott adds, is “a major contributing factor for wildlife strikes on the road.”

Dozens of animals, and especially bears, are being killed each year in Mount Robson because of trucks purposely-spilling grain.

And then there is the railway.

“There is food spillage along the rail line for sure”, Elliott tells us.

Trains spill grain as well, albeit unintentionally. That too is a major driver of bear morality not only in Mount Robson, but across the mountain parks. There’s no resolution in sight and because CN’s federally regulated and own their right of way through the park, there isn’t much BC Parks can do about the issue, Elliott explains.    

“Is that partnership thing – it’s that working together thing. CN is this huge entity and we would love to work more with them to make things better for wildlife in this park.”

But Gail Wallin argues there’s an even bigger threat to Mount Robson.

“Every student in Canada should care about invasive species because they are a major threat to our species at risk. They’re major threat to our protected places because they’ll actually change it.”

Gail is one of Canada’s leading experts on invasives and, as she explains, it’s probably the most important issue you’ve never heard of.

“Invasives are a huge economic loss to Canada. Billions per year.”

And it’s destroying biodiversity too, Gail adds.

“Invasive species are the second biggest threat to biodiversity, not just in Canada but internationally.”

Indeed, it is a widespread problem and major drivers in Canada include recreational tourism and long-haul transportation – both very real issues in Mount Robson.

“Invasive plants will follow corridors. Look at maps for invasive species, invasive plants, and they’ll actually be along the roadways and rail lines.”

What does this all mean?

Park stewardship might not seem like a major issue until you step back and look at the cumulative impact of the stresses facing places like Mount Robson.

How many stresses are too many before the integrity of the park is compromised?

We do need more people to experience and love nature, but is it actually possible to facilitate that connection to nature without harming a park like Mount Robson – especially when issues like the highway and the railway and invasive species are factored in?

And if the answer is no, the question becomes: When and where exactly will we be able to strike that better balance between people and nature?