'Big Yellow Taxi' feelings in Bhutan

Canadian song writer Joni Mitchell composed Big Yellow Taxi on a trip to Hawaii.

I wrote 'Big Yellow Taxi' on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart... this blight on paradise. That's when I sat down and wrote the song

Couln't help thinking of this song whilst travelling from Punakha to Trongsa, early May this year.  This hundred odd km stretch is being widened and the WHOLE distance has been dynamited.  (It is part of the Lateral Road which goes much further east to Bumthang, and is also the main road to connect various northern and southern valleys of Bhutan.)

The hillsides are scarred with landslides and dynamiting and earthmovers work along the entire stretch.

From what the guide was telling us, it has clearly affected bird and mammal life along the road, not surprisingly.  Could it not have been done in bits, I wondered, (assuming it was needed in the first place).  The project has taken two years and is expected to take another two more.  Four years of disruption - will the natural ecosystem bounce back?

There are also concerns of the stability of the Himalayas, and I read now that road widening has been suspended after objections, close to Trongsa.  It was a good thing that traffic is sparse, because at some points the motorable stretch is narrow, and sitting on the cliffside is a heart-in-the-mouth experience.  Our driver Bhim was superb, safe and steady, and so cheerful as well.

Sustainable development.  is it possible?  How does one work it in fragile ecosystems?

Dear Bhutan, please don't pave your paradise.

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot SPOT
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
Then they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go,
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer, farmer
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But LEAVE me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Come and took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

I said
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot