All Maine officials who make land use decisions, such as those regarding Sears Island and Plum Creek, need to hear we cannot afford more “deals” or “agreements” like the ones being pressed upon the public and environmental advocacy groups. The environment cannot sustain interminable compromise. We either mar the landscape or we save it. We simply need to give these rare and beautiful places the respect necessary for preservation and enjoyment.

In his book “Eco-Economy,” Lester Brown states that the economy must become a subset of our ecology and not the other way around. The earth is our most valuable resource – everything else either comes from or is built upon it.

Visitors come to Maine because it is here that special places like Sears Island and Lily Bay still exist. There are fewer and fewer unspoiled areas like this in the world even though they are invaluable to the human soul.

The Supreme Court started out meeting in a dark space in the basement of the Capitol. The barristers’ duties were seen as trivial work until Chief Justice John Marshall wisely rendered the decision that raised the stature of the court to be an equal branch of government making it the final interpreter of the Constitution.

We as a race are lost if we do not realize that nature is a branch of the human spirit and possibly the sustenance of the heart, which, I can only hope, is your final interpreter.

Let Sears Island and the Moosehead region be and let the Department of Transportation and billion dollar developers use already disgraced land on which to build their projects. Maine needs sustainable ecotourism, which supports the local people involved and which makes less of a negative impact on the very land that is the original, priceless, tourist attraction.

I have lived outside of Maine and I have seen the damage done to other out-of-the-way areas by resort-style and other developments. A few people pocket lots of money and then leave, and the rural area cannot support such grand schemes. A destroyed landscape, irrevocable wildlife disturbance and angry locals are what is left. It is not right.

The Maine majority who can see beyond the “dangling carrot” and impending despair need a representative voice. Could this come from our public officials?

They should just say “No” to the money-hungry, smooth-talking deal makers. It will get easier the more they do it, and it will also become evident that we did the right thing.

Susi Higgins Walker of Boothbay Harbor is a massage therapist.