Davidson uses religion and morality to gain support

Davidson was highly religious. He believed that a person could learn about God in one of two ways: reading the Bible or observing nature. Davidson wanted the public to understand that God’s natural laws governed the lives of both humans and all other living creatures, saying that the sooner “we see and recognize [the laws] as such, the better it will be for all concerned.” This line of reasoning reflected a centuries-old natural theology perhaps not present in much Canadian natural historical writing in 1924. The combination of field observation and the strong moral implications of his beliefs gave Davidson a dramatic way of recruiting others to his worldview.

Davidson’s presidential address, which seemed to be more like a sermon than a speech, began with the biblical story in which the King of the Chaldeans (in an area that is now Iraq) angered God by going against God’s laws. In the story, God’s anger appeared in the form of handwriting upon a wall. Likewise, Davidson urged Vancouverites to pay attention to the writing on the wall, before they too were judged and found to be leading immoral lives that harmed the environment.

Davidson outlined biblical, historical and local examples of climate change through forest destruction and reminded his audience of the prediction he had made in an Arbor Day newspaper article about 10 years earlier regarding the erosion of Mosquito Creek. He described the logging effects upon Hollyburn Ridge and Capilano (both north of Vancouver) and demonized “greedy, grasping lumbermen” from the United States. These lumbermen, he said, came north to take advantage of Canadians’ “ignorance and lack of experience” and destroy Canadian forests the same way they had already damaged their own.