T’ick o’ Fog (Part 2)
Posted By Randy on January 19, 2025

A train traverses the Isthmus of Chignecto on what passes for a crystal clear day by my experience. Source: Here
Previously in this series:
Welcome back Goode Reader to this second installment of T’ick o’ Fog. Today we will look at a variety of “fog” that may not be foremost in the mind where atmospheric phenomena normally hold pride of place. I speak, of course, of metaphorical fog, which draws not only its name from the meteorological kind. For like that one, it may still dangerously obscure perception either by its nature or manipulation thereof, and yet differs as it need not exist in any tangible form at all to make its presence known through outcomes.
A lot of humans are possessed of a desire to be freed of personal responsibility for choices and the actions made manifest by them. The concept of the scapegoat is an outcome of this. The scapegoat may be a person or group, a set of undesirable circumstances, but more commonly a combination of the two. Let’s look at an example of what I mean.
“Climate change”, whether identified as “human caused” or simply as “the new normal” has become the dodge by which infrastructure industries and governments at all levels now outdance the dread bullets of responsibility, past through present and on into perpetuity…

Source here.
For an exercise in this, we need look no further than my figurative back yard at the Isthmus of Chignecto, an expanse of reclaimed salt marsh by which Nova Scotia precariously clings like a windblown woodpecker to neighbouring New Brunswick, and thereby the rest of Canada, as the following two images will illustrate …

Behold the red windblown woodpecker on the lower right of the map. Source: Here

A closeup of the woodpecker’s feet with the red circle highlighting the rattlin’ bog … actually marsh — in question. Source: Here
“The Chignecto Isthmus is located along the border between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and is the only road and rail connection between the two provinces. Located near the Northumberland Strait and Bay of Fundy, the Chignecto Isthmus is threatened by rising sea levels and more frequent severe weather events.
“The isthmus is situated slightly above sea level. A network of dykes and aboiteaux originally installed in the late 1600s currently protects communities, infrastructure, private lands and natural resources from rising seas (sic) levels and storms.” ~ Investing in New Brunswick’s and Nova Scotia’s Future, Rising Sea Levels are Threatening the Chignecto Isthmus
Yes, you read that right. The people who originally built what protects the Isthmus from being flooded as it was when they got there did it with 17th century technology and techniques, tried and tested back in Europe’s low countries. It’s certainly a testament to the soundness of their methods and quality of workmanship that only now in the 21st century is the situation recognized as, “… threatened by rising sea levels and more frequent severe weather events.”
Right?
Well, no. because no matter how soundly built and suited to purpose a structure designed to withstand the raw power of Nature may be, only maintenance will keep it viable against the entropic forces of changing conditions and attendant wear and tear.
“Maintenance was the foundation of Eternity. Strange that such an obvious fact had not struck him earlier. They supervised the importation of food and water from Time, the disposal of waste, the functioning of the power plants. They kept all the machinery of Eternity running smoothly. If every Specialist were to die of a stroke on the spot, Maintenance could keep Eternity going indefinitely. Yet were Maintenance to disappear, the Specialists would have to abandon Eternity in days or die miserably.” ~ The End of Eternity (1955), Isaac Asimov
Which brings us to the aforementioned dodge.
From 1988 to 1994 I held the position of Emergency Measures Coordinator for the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg, during which time I performed a threat and readiness assessment on the Municipality, its vulnerabilities and emergency response infrastructure, wrote its emergency operations plan, and oversaw training of emergency response agencies in its use. For reasons that I’ll speak to in greater detail on another occasion, I was not alone in these endeavours as every municipal government in Nova Scotia was enjoying encouraging infusions in the name of emergency preparedness, and thereby every one was required to have someone designated to do the same job as me. In the course of those six years, I had many an occasion to meet and compare notes with my contemporaries from Municipalities throughout the Province, including that one within whose jurisdiction lay the Isthmus of Chignecto.
By that time, assessments of the dikes and aboiteaux protecting the Isthmus from Poseidon’s wrath were a patchwork of band-aid solutions applied to fix damage every time something failed, with need for a more comprehensive rework both long since already recognized and deferred pending sorting out which level of government (municipal, provincial, and federal) was going to hoe in with how much of the obviously substantial cash required.
And then, quick as a flash, fuck all happened.
Quoting from a Globe and Mail article published 16 November 2017 under the title Nova Scotia at risk of becoming an island if dikes not fixed: officials, with bold and underlined emphasis added by Right of LFM Editorial Prerogative:
“The Isthmus of Chignecto was cut off for several days in an 1869 storm, according to a 2008 study by Memorial University geologist Norm Catto.
“The study said the odds of a re-occurrence would increase as sea levels rise. Catto also said while no Nova Scotia community would be permanently submerged by rising sea levels, many would need to adapt.
“A 2016 report by Ottawa’s Working Group on Adaptation and Climate Resilience noted that along with the highway and rail lines, electricity transmission lines on the isthmus are also at risk.
“‘Disruptions due to climate change (e.g., sea-level rise, storm surge) pose risks to these infrastructures and the economic activity they sustain. Trade flows through the isthmus, both by road and rail, carry an estimated value of $50 million per day and $20 billion annually,’ it said.” ~
While there was much official discussion between 1869 and production of Mr. Catto’s 2008 report referred to above and everything that came after it, let this stand as an abbreviated piece of evidence that none of this was new news. Also not new news is the well established policy of elected officials and career bureaucrats alike recognizing that careers are not built of doing something about a problem, but rather in proclaiming one, and then appearing to be busy doing something about it.
From earlier in the same Globe and Mail article quoted above:
“Mayor David Kogon of Amherst, N.S., said sea levels are projected to rise in the Bay of Fundy over 15 to 20 years to the point where the Isthmus of Chignecto will flood, even without a storm surge…
“The dikes in the Tantramar Marsh were built by Acadian settlers for agricultural purposes in the 1700s and urgent, multi-million-dollar upgrades are needed, said Kogon…
“Kogon, the warden of Nova Scotia’s Cumberland County, and the mayor of Sackville, N.B., have sent a letter to provincial and federal infrastructure ministers requesting a meeting to discuss the issue…
“‘The aging dikes combined with documented rising water levels and increased frequencies and intensity of weather events has led to new floodplain mapping. These clearly show that a flood that will breach the national rail and road networks is no longer a theoretical question — it is a matter of how soon it will occur,’ said the Nov. 1 letter, signed by Kogon, Cumberland County Warden Al Gillis and Sackville Mayor John Higham.”
Leaping forward from the above quoted Globe and Mail article to an Official Statement from none other than Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, issued 15 October 2024, under the BOLD header, ”
Province Puts Shovels in Ground to Protect Chignecto Isthmus
we have:
In the coming days, shovels will be in the ground to protect people living in the Amherst area from severe weather events and ensure that an important national trade corridor remains open.
Our government knows how important the Chignecto Isthmus is to Nova Scotians and Canadians. If it were to fail, it would seriously impact the whole country.
While we wait for the federal government to live up to their responsibilities, we will construct a new 500-metre-long and four-metre-high soil barrier, known as a berm, along the LaPlanche River. The berm will provide backup for an aging and eroding dyke and help protect homes, businesses, the Trans-Canada Highway and rail lines from flooding in the event of a significant storm.
This work needs to be done now. We know Nova Scotians are worried, and we are taking action to protect them.
But the work we are doing is only a start. We need more. While we put contingency plans in place like this berm, we need the federal government to acknowledge the national importance of the Chignecto Isthmus and take the climate change threats we face seriously.
I am again calling on Liberal MPs to show leadership on this crucial issue, fully fund the project and do what is right for Nova Scotians.
So there it is. The dodge I referred to at the start of this article in full flower of frantic inaction. Looking only comparatively recently within the window of time encapsulated by the news items quoted here, we have historic neglect and grim forebodings of doom addressed by equally historic arguments over who is obligated to pay the Piper, framed interminably by the writing of liability shedding missives, the forming of “working groups”, waiting on reports, and discussing them ad nauseam when/if they arrive.
Most importantly of all, we have the unassailable out, beloved of 21st century infrastructure industries and governments at all levels. It’s climate change and it’s all about the sins of the past — we’re just trying to fix it.
Climate Theatre enters stage left, and never finds its way off.
In an off the cuff comment from the Mayor of a Nova Scotia town with whom I was engaged in a recent “off the record” conversation, he informed me of his travails in managing some very real and immediate consequences from historic neglect of vital infrastructure by Town Councils past. As his town’s highest ranking bearer of the Bigge Bag o’ Shyte, he now finds himself explaining dire outcomes to the citizenry with little more in hand than that the roots of the problem are not even close to new, and things can’t help but get worse before they get worse.
Clean and oil the hamster wheel. New study group coming in.
He could get mired in blaming the sins of the fathers, but instead falls to the adage that when driving a car, one has views both front (through the windshield) and back (through the rear view mirror), and looking back isn’t going to change what’s ahead.
With all respect to the Mayor, I must say that his automotive metaphor runs dangerously close to flying in the face of another adage that speaks to the one critical thing we can learn from history. That being said, I do understand his resorting to it and will accept it on this occasion with the caveat that he, in turn, accept the role of the rear view mirror as a tool of safe motoring by which his townsfolk may keep themselves reminded of who is drawing the map for them this time around. And thus may he set an example to the wider world that has done entirely too good a job making sure the blows dealt in the full contact sport of governance are only felt in one direction. Bon courage Mr. Mayor!
Now let’s give William Shakespeare the last word for today.
“Plantagenet, I will; and like thee, Nero, Play on the lute, beholding the towns burn …” ~ Henry VI, Act1, Scene 4
As a child growing up in PEI, we had a cottage on the North Shore, in a community known as Savage Harbour. We moved to the cottage every June and stayed there until mid September, until I was a young teen ager. The property was a decent size and had a sand dune that was about 20 to 30 feet high at its edge where it met the beach. There was a beautiful wide white sand beach between the dune and the high water line.
All attempts to protect the shoreline, resulted in my family now holding the deed to a property located some 500 yards off shore.
At any location where man and nature meet, nature will always overcome, any foolish effort of man.