Harbor Shores Destroying Habitat

Eight point bucks in the city are a rarity here in Benton Harbor. In the 25 years of living on Pipestone Street I have not seen deer running through the neighborhood, let alone and eight point buck! Others have been spotted in the area as well. The Ox Creek ravine follows Pipestone Street from downtown out to I-94 providing, for a short time, cover and some limited food for the wild life now trying to escape from the previously undisturbed habitat along M-63 and North Shore Road, and Jean Klock Park, where the Harbor Shores Development is now destroying woodlands and other wild areas previously left undisturbed. There have been sightings of foxes, as well as other wild life, along Pipestone Street and other areas in both cities including Ridgeway Avenue in St Joseph.

Why is this of concern? As we all know from recent news programs global climate change and collapse of wildlife populations are serious issues for the entire planet. Future generations- even those now living will suffer catastrophic consequences from these human initiated phenomena. The balance shifts daily towards complete destruction of all living beings and even incremental change positively continues to push us towards a cataclysmic end within our lifetimes. While Harbor Shores may have a positive economic outcome, the destruction of natural areas needs complete mitigation, including provision of preserve areas where the wild life now being displaced can relocate, and restoration of trees and undergrowth can welcome migrating bird populations, as well as absorb carbon dioxide given off by human activity. Without mitigation efforts really aimed towards these ends Harbor Shores will be one more example of corporate destruction of the Earth for private gain. Is Global climate Change and the destruction of the Earth to be The Whirlpool Corporation’s enduring legacy? I hope not.