This is just a short one because part 2 was long. But in watching the videos about fracking elsewhere and GMOs elsewhere, and thinking of the tarsands in Alberta, and recognizing that many people are waking up to the negative environmental impacts of these industries despite the jobs and money they create, I've been thinking about how maybe the government of Nova Scotia could come up with some attractive branding for this province. Maybe a catchy slogan would help.
how about:
"Come back to Nova Scotia, bring the money you made extracting resources elsewhere or flipping your property to foreign investors, and live the life you've always dreamed of. We promise there will be no fracking or GMOs, and we'll keep this province healthy and safe as can be."
Okay, that might be a bit long to stick on a license plate, but, can you imagine? If the province became a safe haven for jaded environmentalists and other refugees/ex-pats from the rest of Canada? The Nova Scotia Nature Trust could meet everyone at the border with suggestions of land that concerned citizens could purchase to conserve. The gobs of cash that people could bring by selling their Vancouver or Toronto homes could be invested in new creative small businesses that would add to an increasingly diversified economy. It's already happening, I've met several "come from aways" who have also chased their dreams to Nova Scotia and stand a chance of creating jobs. Maybe instead of jealously looking at Alberta and their oil/gas extraction money would could look at other countries that seem to have it together. Maybe some small European country exists that would be a better model for Nova Scotia's best possibility. Just a thought.
More revolutionary ideas tomorrow!
Monday, January 28, 2013
Revolutionary Ideas - Part 2 - Up With Net Metering
So I'm feeling a lot more optimistic today. First off, back to the fracking thing I found a couple more videos that show that it might not be all that its cooked up to be, if anyone involved can watch these and still be pro-frack-Nova Scotia I'd like to know why.
This one is about coal seam gas development in Queensland, but appropriate I thought.
Moving along to today's idea, net metering for solar and micro hydro. First off I'd like to point out that these revolutionary ideas are definitely not just mine I got them from somewhere. So I was pleased to find this report today by the NS government once I started looking into it:
http://www.gov.ns.ca/energy/resources/EM/renewable/renewable-electricity-plan.pdf
So I don't need to go on about the potential benefits of net metering, it is in the above report.
Also, luckily my copy of the Herald Magazine fell on the floor upside down so I saw the back cover, which has an ad with with the link from Nova Scotia Power, indicating they are working on the net metering thing.
http://www.tomorrowspower.ca/
Back in 1995 I had the opportunity to volunteer at a research station in Cape Tribulation Australia. It was completely off grid (easier to do in the tropics of course) and powered by a combination of solar and microhydro. I had never seen a microhydro system before and remember being amazed that this small white capsule, maybe less than a foot long, contained a turbine which was placed in just a trickle of a stream. There were a lot of hoses involved and I wasn't that interested in technology at the time so I don't remember much more, but remember thinking, wow, it really doesn't take much water movement to create electricity. Obviously they'd draw more power from it in the rainy season, when the solar panels would be less effective.
Part of why I bought land where I did was because I thought by being by a river, maybe some day it would be possible to have a microhydro system provide at least part of my power, if not all sorts of power for me and my neighbours. Ironically enough one day while I was away, my husband noticed a couple of fellows at the foot of our property doing something in the river. One was an electrician who was testing out a microhydro system he'd just invented, for a client with a cabin that was located far from the grid.
I wasn't around to see it but asked him later about solar and micro hydro and he pointed out that unlike Ontario, where private landowners can receive payment for selling power back to the grid, this option doesn't exist in Nova Scotia; or it does but it isn't lucrative for small systems. He figured that the ability to sell power back to the grid would offset the cost of purchasing and installing solar panels, and more people would be inclined to do this. So it makes me glad to see the government report above, although writing up a plan and actually implementing it are two very different things. I'm still confused about the whole thing though so maybe I'll send him the "tomorrowspower" link.
As for microhydro, it seems to me that where river water creates energy consistently (unlike the sun or wind) and if someone where to give someone like this electrician a small bag of money to go away and invent something efficient, I think there's a good chance they would.
I find it funny that there's money for the oil and gas industry to come up with all sorts of crazy technology but you don't hear much about that sort of investment in research for solar and microhydro. Or even look at how far they've gotten with drone technology; someone put the resources into developing drones and now they've become quite sophisticated in their uses for surveillance and attacking people. I would think that if more investment was made in soft technology, more solutions would be found. Or maybe more creative people will just come up with solutions on their own. Check out this video by a Newfoundland guy who figured out a way to use cans to make solar powered heating units:
I think about computers, and all the advancement that has been made since my first 286 which ran on DOS. It makes me feel optimistic for the future of renewables.
At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist: maybe the problem is that the oil and gas industries are so powerful that the thought of decentralizing power by putting renewable into the hands of the masses would be a threat to their ability to make profit. On that level I could see why a certain someone would say that "solar and microhydro are not economically viable" - unlike the oil and gas industry maybe they're not as set up to offer jobs and profits for shareholders. I just don't know. I do think that with cheaper energy people and business owners would have money freed up for more things, such as creating jobs for others and having time to invent and create new interesting things. Where the energy would be cleaner there wouldn't be the worry of cleaning up air or water pollution made from burning oil and gas.
Now I'll admit that natural gas is a much cleaner burning fuel source and I've greatly enjoyed low heating costs in Regina from using it. In fact it was cheaper to heat a 3 storey 1912 character house in Regina through a winter where the temperature would get down to -50 with natural gas than it was to heat a small house in Halifax. I couldn't believe it. I just think the risk of water and soil contamination from trying to extract it from Nova Scotia could outweigh the benefits, so it is a big gamble to make. If all these other places are pumping out natural gas for cheap can't we just import some of theirs? I love bananas but that doesn't mean I would try to grow them here.
I'll post the following video eventhough it is pretty "out there" and if you do some googling you'll see it is controversial and not without its critics. Some of it I like and I think it is interesting food for thought. I'm also open to reviewing evidence that reliance on oil and gas is great for people and so plan on watching "Frack Nation" - a pro fracking documentary that just came out, to see another point of view. I'm trying to keep my mind open.
This one is about coal seam gas development in Queensland, but appropriate I thought.
Moving along to today's idea, net metering for solar and micro hydro. First off I'd like to point out that these revolutionary ideas are definitely not just mine I got them from somewhere. So I was pleased to find this report today by the NS government once I started looking into it:
http://www.gov.ns.ca/energy/resources/EM/renewable/renewable-electricity-plan.pdf
So I don't need to go on about the potential benefits of net metering, it is in the above report.
Also, luckily my copy of the Herald Magazine fell on the floor upside down so I saw the back cover, which has an ad with with the link from Nova Scotia Power, indicating they are working on the net metering thing.
http://www.tomorrowspower.ca/
Back in 1995 I had the opportunity to volunteer at a research station in Cape Tribulation Australia. It was completely off grid (easier to do in the tropics of course) and powered by a combination of solar and microhydro. I had never seen a microhydro system before and remember being amazed that this small white capsule, maybe less than a foot long, contained a turbine which was placed in just a trickle of a stream. There were a lot of hoses involved and I wasn't that interested in technology at the time so I don't remember much more, but remember thinking, wow, it really doesn't take much water movement to create electricity. Obviously they'd draw more power from it in the rainy season, when the solar panels would be less effective.
Part of why I bought land where I did was because I thought by being by a river, maybe some day it would be possible to have a microhydro system provide at least part of my power, if not all sorts of power for me and my neighbours. Ironically enough one day while I was away, my husband noticed a couple of fellows at the foot of our property doing something in the river. One was an electrician who was testing out a microhydro system he'd just invented, for a client with a cabin that was located far from the grid.
I wasn't around to see it but asked him later about solar and micro hydro and he pointed out that unlike Ontario, where private landowners can receive payment for selling power back to the grid, this option doesn't exist in Nova Scotia; or it does but it isn't lucrative for small systems. He figured that the ability to sell power back to the grid would offset the cost of purchasing and installing solar panels, and more people would be inclined to do this. So it makes me glad to see the government report above, although writing up a plan and actually implementing it are two very different things. I'm still confused about the whole thing though so maybe I'll send him the "tomorrowspower" link.
As for microhydro, it seems to me that where river water creates energy consistently (unlike the sun or wind) and if someone where to give someone like this electrician a small bag of money to go away and invent something efficient, I think there's a good chance they would.
I find it funny that there's money for the oil and gas industry to come up with all sorts of crazy technology but you don't hear much about that sort of investment in research for solar and microhydro. Or even look at how far they've gotten with drone technology; someone put the resources into developing drones and now they've become quite sophisticated in their uses for surveillance and attacking people. I would think that if more investment was made in soft technology, more solutions would be found. Or maybe more creative people will just come up with solutions on their own. Check out this video by a Newfoundland guy who figured out a way to use cans to make solar powered heating units:
I think about computers, and all the advancement that has been made since my first 286 which ran on DOS. It makes me feel optimistic for the future of renewables.
At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist: maybe the problem is that the oil and gas industries are so powerful that the thought of decentralizing power by putting renewable into the hands of the masses would be a threat to their ability to make profit. On that level I could see why a certain someone would say that "solar and microhydro are not economically viable" - unlike the oil and gas industry maybe they're not as set up to offer jobs and profits for shareholders. I just don't know. I do think that with cheaper energy people and business owners would have money freed up for more things, such as creating jobs for others and having time to invent and create new interesting things. Where the energy would be cleaner there wouldn't be the worry of cleaning up air or water pollution made from burning oil and gas.
Now I'll admit that natural gas is a much cleaner burning fuel source and I've greatly enjoyed low heating costs in Regina from using it. In fact it was cheaper to heat a 3 storey 1912 character house in Regina through a winter where the temperature would get down to -50 with natural gas than it was to heat a small house in Halifax. I couldn't believe it. I just think the risk of water and soil contamination from trying to extract it from Nova Scotia could outweigh the benefits, so it is a big gamble to make. If all these other places are pumping out natural gas for cheap can't we just import some of theirs? I love bananas but that doesn't mean I would try to grow them here.
I'll post the following video eventhough it is pretty "out there" and if you do some googling you'll see it is controversial and not without its critics. Some of it I like and I think it is interesting food for thought. I'm also open to reviewing evidence that reliance on oil and gas is great for people and so plan on watching "Frack Nation" - a pro fracking documentary that just came out, to see another point of view. I'm trying to keep my mind open.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Revolutionary Ideas Part 1 - Up With Organic Farms
Welcome to Part One of my series I call "Revolutionary Ideas for Nova Scotia".
I'll be the first to admit that I'm a loudmouth from away, and what the hell do I know what is best for this province. I don't know what is best. These are just ideas. Maybe there will be something good in here though, you never know.
The first idea I have is more organic farms. More permaculture. In today's Halifax Chronicle Herald, which I read every day, I noticed two interesting things:
1. Ian Thompson, the Herald's Associate Publisher, in his preamble for the Herald Magazine says that "We have more food today, and it's cheaper."
I would like to know where Ian shops, as I've noticed some inflation with food prices (though as we grow more of our own food I'm not too worried about that). The other thing I would point out is that our food supply right now is heavily dependent on petrochemicals for fertilizer and trucking. Is this more abundant, cheaper food nutritious? If it isn't, doesn't that mean it incurs an expense with it in terms of future medical care? In terms of freshwater supply and availability of petrochemicals for trucking and fertilizer, is it sustainable? Won't costs increase as resources are depleted and become more expensive? and what of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) which have snuck into our food system in increasing amounts, there doesn't exist long term proof that this technology isn't harmful for humans. Many conscious consumers are choosing to avoid GMOs.
2. in the Letters to the editor there is one titled "More Farm Jobs Lost" where a reader points out concerns about the closure of a slaughterhouse in Kingston, and the fear of losing prime farmland to residential and commercial development as it is subdivided and sold off.
Great letter. My hometown, Richmond BC was nicknamed "Garden City" with the blackest, richest soil you've ever seen. My parents, who were farmers in Poland, delighted in their productive vegetable gardens and by freezing and canning we'd eat homegrown produce year round. Despite the presence of the Agricultural Land Reserve, much of Richmond has since been busted up for condo developments, forcing a heavier reliance on imported food, especially as the population increases. In a sad twist of irony the fertile 1/2 acre my folks bought in the 60's is now poised to become part of a Wal-Mart site. Big money, yes, but you can't eat money.
So I can't help but look at the mls map of Nova Scotia and suck my teeth. Anyone can see an abundance of farmland for sale. In a previous Herald article someone pointed out that Nova Scotia is actually one province where farmland has been increasing, I think that's great and maybe this is a resource that the NS government can turn into economic growth and jobs.
How about instead of encouraging fracking on that farmland, which would result in more tailing ponds that might contaminate both the soil and water, we promote the province as a mecca for organic farming and permaculture? I can't believe I'm the only former yuppie from another province that flocked here thrilled for the opportunity to own land and grown my own food (a goal that was out of reach for me in BC).
In fact I know I am not. There is a couple from BC who bought a farm in Petite Riviere to do just that. They have a farm as well as a B&B. I met them, they're nice:
Petite Riviere B&B and Heritage Farm
Maybe better still, there could be a way for the government to help its own young people create jobs for themselves in this sector, before more people from away like me show up and snap up all the land. The payoff would be a restoration of beautiful pastoral scenes, abundant local healthy food, increased tourism, decreased health care costs from more Nova Scotians having access to nutritious local food.
Aside from just growing food, there is opportunity here for value added food products. Wine, haskap berry products, sausage, all kinds of things. The seaport market in Halifax is full of great local products. Couldn't the province help promote and enhance this industry in some way, by helping food producers distribute their products to Toronto or other large urban centres. I don't know much about this sort of business.
Maybe instead of being just another place to frack, Nova Scotia could gain an international reputation as a centre of permaculture, organic farming, sustainable living and healthy food products.
How to make this idea economically viable? I'm not sure. I have a couple suggestions though. As a member of the 'private sector' in 2003 when I made up my mind that I really wanted some land, I found an acreage in NS with a house on it. A lot of people in Vancouver thought I was nuts to fly to the other side of the country to buy land, but my argument was I could never own anything like it in BC. I didn't have enough capital to realize my rural dream though, so I rented the house out to a family for cheap. This is how I accidentally found out about the tax benefits of real estate investing. The family got a new wood stove, I got a tax write off, they maintained the house, did some repairs in exchange for rent, and were able to save a downpayment for a place of their own when I was ready to move here 9 years later. In the field of ecology we would call this a "Symbiotic Relationship" - a relationship where both parties involved benefit. Maybe a sustainable future for Nova Scotia will require creating more of these sorts of relationships.
The following may be a terrible idea, I don't know, but maybe the provincial government could step in and buy up some of this available farmland thus creating its own Agricultural Reserve and create lease to own programs for its young people, using vendor take back mortgages. The mortgage interest income from these loans could be used to create programs to promote organic farming, permaculture, and maybe even government run slaughterhouses and other infrastructure. It is just an idea.
Or (sarcasm alert) maybe we could let Mosanto buy up all the farm land, plant monocultures of genetically modified crops sprayed with their pesticides and continue to try to monopolize our food supply.
I'll end this first of my revolutionary ideas with links to some interesting videos:
The first is actually a Hellman's commercial explaining how much of our food in Canada is imported
This one is great, it starts off showing how reliant on petrochemicals our current agricultural systems are and ends with positive, sustainable solutions using permaculture:
A Farm for the Future
For anyone not familiar with what Monsanto and GMOs are all about, here is "The World According to Monsanto"
And last but not least, "Food Matters" a very excellent documentary on how we are what we eat. Learn more about these folks and how to find their video here:
http://www.foodmatters.tv/
I've seen many other great movies, but these are a few of my top picks.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm a loudmouth from away, and what the hell do I know what is best for this province. I don't know what is best. These are just ideas. Maybe there will be something good in here though, you never know.
The first idea I have is more organic farms. More permaculture. In today's Halifax Chronicle Herald, which I read every day, I noticed two interesting things:
1. Ian Thompson, the Herald's Associate Publisher, in his preamble for the Herald Magazine says that "We have more food today, and it's cheaper."
I would like to know where Ian shops, as I've noticed some inflation with food prices (though as we grow more of our own food I'm not too worried about that). The other thing I would point out is that our food supply right now is heavily dependent on petrochemicals for fertilizer and trucking. Is this more abundant, cheaper food nutritious? If it isn't, doesn't that mean it incurs an expense with it in terms of future medical care? In terms of freshwater supply and availability of petrochemicals for trucking and fertilizer, is it sustainable? Won't costs increase as resources are depleted and become more expensive? and what of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) which have snuck into our food system in increasing amounts, there doesn't exist long term proof that this technology isn't harmful for humans. Many conscious consumers are choosing to avoid GMOs.
2. in the Letters to the editor there is one titled "More Farm Jobs Lost" where a reader points out concerns about the closure of a slaughterhouse in Kingston, and the fear of losing prime farmland to residential and commercial development as it is subdivided and sold off.
Great letter. My hometown, Richmond BC was nicknamed "Garden City" with the blackest, richest soil you've ever seen. My parents, who were farmers in Poland, delighted in their productive vegetable gardens and by freezing and canning we'd eat homegrown produce year round. Despite the presence of the Agricultural Land Reserve, much of Richmond has since been busted up for condo developments, forcing a heavier reliance on imported food, especially as the population increases. In a sad twist of irony the fertile 1/2 acre my folks bought in the 60's is now poised to become part of a Wal-Mart site. Big money, yes, but you can't eat money.
So I can't help but look at the mls map of Nova Scotia and suck my teeth. Anyone can see an abundance of farmland for sale. In a previous Herald article someone pointed out that Nova Scotia is actually one province where farmland has been increasing, I think that's great and maybe this is a resource that the NS government can turn into economic growth and jobs.
How about instead of encouraging fracking on that farmland, which would result in more tailing ponds that might contaminate both the soil and water, we promote the province as a mecca for organic farming and permaculture? I can't believe I'm the only former yuppie from another province that flocked here thrilled for the opportunity to own land and grown my own food (a goal that was out of reach for me in BC).
In fact I know I am not. There is a couple from BC who bought a farm in Petite Riviere to do just that. They have a farm as well as a B&B. I met them, they're nice:
Petite Riviere B&B and Heritage Farm
Maybe better still, there could be a way for the government to help its own young people create jobs for themselves in this sector, before more people from away like me show up and snap up all the land. The payoff would be a restoration of beautiful pastoral scenes, abundant local healthy food, increased tourism, decreased health care costs from more Nova Scotians having access to nutritious local food.
Aside from just growing food, there is opportunity here for value added food products. Wine, haskap berry products, sausage, all kinds of things. The seaport market in Halifax is full of great local products. Couldn't the province help promote and enhance this industry in some way, by helping food producers distribute their products to Toronto or other large urban centres. I don't know much about this sort of business.
Maybe instead of being just another place to frack, Nova Scotia could gain an international reputation as a centre of permaculture, organic farming, sustainable living and healthy food products.
How to make this idea economically viable? I'm not sure. I have a couple suggestions though. As a member of the 'private sector' in 2003 when I made up my mind that I really wanted some land, I found an acreage in NS with a house on it. A lot of people in Vancouver thought I was nuts to fly to the other side of the country to buy land, but my argument was I could never own anything like it in BC. I didn't have enough capital to realize my rural dream though, so I rented the house out to a family for cheap. This is how I accidentally found out about the tax benefits of real estate investing. The family got a new wood stove, I got a tax write off, they maintained the house, did some repairs in exchange for rent, and were able to save a downpayment for a place of their own when I was ready to move here 9 years later. In the field of ecology we would call this a "Symbiotic Relationship" - a relationship where both parties involved benefit. Maybe a sustainable future for Nova Scotia will require creating more of these sorts of relationships.
The following may be a terrible idea, I don't know, but maybe the provincial government could step in and buy up some of this available farmland thus creating its own Agricultural Reserve and create lease to own programs for its young people, using vendor take back mortgages. The mortgage interest income from these loans could be used to create programs to promote organic farming, permaculture, and maybe even government run slaughterhouses and other infrastructure. It is just an idea.
Or (sarcasm alert) maybe we could let Mosanto buy up all the farm land, plant monocultures of genetically modified crops sprayed with their pesticides and continue to try to monopolize our food supply.
I'll end this first of my revolutionary ideas with links to some interesting videos:
The first is actually a Hellman's commercial explaining how much of our food in Canada is imported
This one is great, it starts off showing how reliant on petrochemicals our current agricultural systems are and ends with positive, sustainable solutions using permaculture:
A Farm for the Future
For anyone not familiar with what Monsanto and GMOs are all about, here is "The World According to Monsanto"
And last but not least, "Food Matters" a very excellent documentary on how we are what we eat. Learn more about these folks and how to find their video here:
http://www.foodmatters.tv/
I've seen many other great movies, but these are a few of my top picks.
Revolutionary Ideas - preamble
Well well well I started the day in a bit of a funk but then got to journaling, and decided, hey, I've got some ideas that might be good alternatives for sustainable economic development in Nova Scotia. Maybe I'll start a blog series listing them off. Maybe they are crap, but, they're just ideas conjured up from my 40 years of living in this world. I've traveled a lot and lived in various Canadian cities. Maybe instead of staring out the window feeling depressed at the thought of fracking coming to NS I will post these ideas on line. People are free to love them or hate them or suggest alternatives. My intention is finding solutions for better lifestyles for more people, I think everyone could get on board with that, even Bill Black! Unless they are greedy overlords I guess, who depend on humans to exploit.
I did hear back from Bill Black (referring to my post yesterday) who doesn't think we'd find common ground, doesn't think solar or microhydro are economically viable (though farmed mink and salmon are). Maybe he's right. But maybe what is fundamentally flawed is our model of the economy in the first place. I'll refer back to my post on Sacred Economics.
In thinking about a preamble, and thinking more about oil and gas, I came up with this:
What child, when asked what he/she wants to be when they grow up says, "oooo, I'd like to have a job for a multinational petrochemical company, draining a watershed to pump carcinogens into the earth to make natural gas"? I think kids want to help others and animals, create, invent, make things, perform, play, communicate ... and somehow along the way they all get drafted into a school system that doesn't help them listen to and realize their hearts desires. Instead, for the most part, it grooms them to be good employees and good followers. Not so much freethinkers or creators, as this TED talk by Ken Robinson describes: (fyi I've watched a lot of documentaries while working on art and lying around waiting for my back to heal after breaking it in 2007. Some are fantastic so I'll be linking to them)
So all this thinking about solutions has prompted me to symbolically dig my biology degrees out of the trash. I think the biggest issue human beings have is that we've somehow forgotten that we're also animals and are subjected to environmental constraints.
One concept from ecology I can share is the notion of "carrying capacity". Carrying Capacity is the maximum population of a given species that can survive indefinitely in a given environment.
The term was taught to me to describe things like how many deer can live in an area etc etc, but if we're going to keep increasing the population, or even hold it steady as we deplete and pollute our current resources, we need to come up with more creative, sustainable ways to use resources to meet our needs.
The following is an excellent lecture I've watched many times, on resources, arithmetic and the exponential function. I wish everyone in the world would watch this.
"Arithmetic, Population and Energy" by Dr. Albert Bartlett
here is a link to it on Documentary Heaven
http://documentaryheaven.com/arithmetic-population-and-energy/
and I found it on youtube too so I could embed it here:
I did hear back from Bill Black (referring to my post yesterday) who doesn't think we'd find common ground, doesn't think solar or microhydro are economically viable (though farmed mink and salmon are). Maybe he's right. But maybe what is fundamentally flawed is our model of the economy in the first place. I'll refer back to my post on Sacred Economics.
In thinking about a preamble, and thinking more about oil and gas, I came up with this:
What child, when asked what he/she wants to be when they grow up says, "oooo, I'd like to have a job for a multinational petrochemical company, draining a watershed to pump carcinogens into the earth to make natural gas"? I think kids want to help others and animals, create, invent, make things, perform, play, communicate ... and somehow along the way they all get drafted into a school system that doesn't help them listen to and realize their hearts desires. Instead, for the most part, it grooms them to be good employees and good followers. Not so much freethinkers or creators, as this TED talk by Ken Robinson describes: (fyi I've watched a lot of documentaries while working on art and lying around waiting for my back to heal after breaking it in 2007. Some are fantastic so I'll be linking to them)
So all this thinking about solutions has prompted me to symbolically dig my biology degrees out of the trash. I think the biggest issue human beings have is that we've somehow forgotten that we're also animals and are subjected to environmental constraints.
One concept from ecology I can share is the notion of "carrying capacity". Carrying Capacity is the maximum population of a given species that can survive indefinitely in a given environment.
The term was taught to me to describe things like how many deer can live in an area etc etc, but if we're going to keep increasing the population, or even hold it steady as we deplete and pollute our current resources, we need to come up with more creative, sustainable ways to use resources to meet our needs.
The following is an excellent lecture I've watched many times, on resources, arithmetic and the exponential function. I wish everyone in the world would watch this.
"Arithmetic, Population and Energy" by Dr. Albert Bartlett
here is a link to it on Documentary Heaven
http://documentaryheaven.com/arithmetic-population-and-energy/
and I found it on youtube too so I could embed it here:
Silent Auction
Well I've got an idea now for a series of blog posts (soon to follow) but before I get started I wanted to post this cartoon I drew this week.
No offense intended to anyone I've donated work to for fundraisers, I like other artists are pleased to have the opportunity to contribute in this way for worthy causes,and yes, most moms who have asked for school fundraisers aren't like the one in the pic. The drawing is meant to poke fun at the fact that artists get hit up for donations a lot, and many artists aren't all that well off. It makes me wonder if it'd be better to seek donations from people like lawyers and accountants. anyways.
No offense intended to anyone I've donated work to for fundraisers, I like other artists are pleased to have the opportunity to contribute in this way for worthy causes,and yes, most moms who have asked for school fundraisers aren't like the one in the pic. The drawing is meant to poke fun at the fact that artists get hit up for donations a lot, and many artists aren't all that well off. It makes me wonder if it'd be better to seek donations from people like lawyers and accountants. anyways.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
The Future of Fracking In Nova Scotia
Well this is better, two blog posts in two days.
I just drew this cartoon:
Big thanks to Bill Black for making me mad and sad with this article the Halifax Chronicle Herald published today
http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/530204-black-when-it-comes-to-fracking-enough-study-consultation
Yes, yes, Bill, enough with the study and consultation already lets get to work pumping those carcinogens into the ground to extract some gas. Never mind the fact that relative to other provinces Nova Scotia has a tiny land mass and a population density second only to PEI. Natural gas all the way! Forget about any sort of development that might be sustainable and earth friendly, um, like organic farming, ecoforestry, value added forestry products, help for landowners wishing to construct solar arrays or microhydro projects to sell power back to the grid (uh oh, Emera wouldn't like that at all!)*, IT, other technology, marketing the province as a haven for retiring baby boomers, tourism, finding ways to promote and develop the province's creative class... bah... forget all that and let's frack! and fill the province with mink farms and salmon pens while we're at it! Yes!
from Bill's article:
"Although there have been isolated problems, as occur with any resource industry, fracking has been largely safe and is responsible for revitalizing many parts of rural North America. "
ah, so Bill says it is largely safe. Good maybe we can start by fracking in his yard then. I hope someone will give Bill a copy of "GasLand" (the documentary) as well as a map of Canada so he can notice how small Nova Scotia is, and how full of fresh waterways.
Maybe he has a point about not studying it too much. I quit my career as a biologist in BC when I realized I was a 'biostitute' and that corporations will pay people fat contracts in order to say they spent x amount on the environment. And then they'll put the report on a shelf and go ahead and do whatever they were going to do in the first place. So I decided to give up trying to be a 'conservation biologist' and I moved to rural NS to try and live off my ecological footprint, and protect my own bit of land. So far so good, but I really hope nobody fracks with my delicious well water!
since writing this post I've emailed both Bill Black and the editor of the Herald, here's the note I sent with my post.
*****
Dear Bill Black and Herald editors,
I was greatly disturbed by Bill's pro-fracking article in today's paper. I've published my response with a cartoon I drew here on my blog and will copy/paste below in case any part of it is suitable for the letters section. In fact I'll add this letter to my blog post.
Bill, I'd encourage to do some more google searching about fracking, its impacts, and the enormous volumes of freshwater it uses and pollutes, and watch some documentaries. I believe this is a terribly shortsighted thing to wish on this province. I have lived through 2 economic booms, one in Vancouver and one in Regina before moving to Nova Scotia, and I'd be pleased to meet with you in person to share with you further some of my own ideas for sustainable development for this province. I think Nova Scotia has the potential for a much brighter future than what mere resource extraction and depletion would provide. I think if you could see this and understand the problems with fracking you might change your mind.
Sincerely,
Susan Paczek.
BSc McGill - Biology, MSc University of British Columbia - conservation biology, former registered professional biologist (RPBio)
Wait, it gets better, I've decided to include some links on this blog to compelling resources that point out issues with fracking:
http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/content/fracking-natural-gas-affects-water-quality
http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/
http://www.dangersoffracking.com/
I could go on and on but you get the point...
* maybe Nova Scotia Power is more on the ball than I thought, see
http://www.tomorrowspower.ca/
I just drew this cartoon:
Big thanks to Bill Black for making me mad and sad with this article the Halifax Chronicle Herald published today
http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/530204-black-when-it-comes-to-fracking-enough-study-consultation
Yes, yes, Bill, enough with the study and consultation already lets get to work pumping those carcinogens into the ground to extract some gas. Never mind the fact that relative to other provinces Nova Scotia has a tiny land mass and a population density second only to PEI. Natural gas all the way! Forget about any sort of development that might be sustainable and earth friendly, um, like organic farming, ecoforestry, value added forestry products, help for landowners wishing to construct solar arrays or microhydro projects to sell power back to the grid (uh oh, Emera wouldn't like that at all!)*, IT, other technology, marketing the province as a haven for retiring baby boomers, tourism, finding ways to promote and develop the province's creative class... bah... forget all that and let's frack! and fill the province with mink farms and salmon pens while we're at it! Yes!
from Bill's article:
"Although there have been isolated problems, as occur with any resource industry, fracking has been largely safe and is responsible for revitalizing many parts of rural North America. "
ah, so Bill says it is largely safe. Good maybe we can start by fracking in his yard then. I hope someone will give Bill a copy of "GasLand" (the documentary) as well as a map of Canada so he can notice how small Nova Scotia is, and how full of fresh waterways.
Maybe he has a point about not studying it too much. I quit my career as a biologist in BC when I realized I was a 'biostitute' and that corporations will pay people fat contracts in order to say they spent x amount on the environment. And then they'll put the report on a shelf and go ahead and do whatever they were going to do in the first place. So I decided to give up trying to be a 'conservation biologist' and I moved to rural NS to try and live off my ecological footprint, and protect my own bit of land. So far so good, but I really hope nobody fracks with my delicious well water!
since writing this post I've emailed both Bill Black and the editor of the Herald, here's the note I sent with my post.
*****
Dear Bill Black and Herald editors,
I was greatly disturbed by Bill's pro-fracking article in today's paper. I've published my response with a cartoon I drew here on my blog and will copy/paste below in case any part of it is suitable for the letters section. In fact I'll add this letter to my blog post.
Bill, I'd encourage to do some more google searching about fracking, its impacts, and the enormous volumes of freshwater it uses and pollutes, and watch some documentaries. I believe this is a terribly shortsighted thing to wish on this province. I have lived through 2 economic booms, one in Vancouver and one in Regina before moving to Nova Scotia, and I'd be pleased to meet with you in person to share with you further some of my own ideas for sustainable development for this province. I think Nova Scotia has the potential for a much brighter future than what mere resource extraction and depletion would provide. I think if you could see this and understand the problems with fracking you might change your mind.
Sincerely,
Susan Paczek.
BSc McGill - Biology, MSc University of British Columbia - conservation biology, former registered professional biologist (RPBio)
Wait, it gets better, I've decided to include some links on this blog to compelling resources that point out issues with fracking:
http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/content/fracking-natural-gas-affects-water-quality
http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/
http://www.dangersoffracking.com/
I could go on and on but you get the point...
* maybe Nova Scotia Power is more on the ball than I thought, see
http://www.tomorrowspower.ca/
Friday, January 25, 2013
Sacred Economics
Ulp... thought I'd be posting more this year. I've taken a wee break from sculpting and have been doing a lot of thinking.... about potential solutions to the state of the world, my life purpose, etc. I've been a big fan of the Idle No More movement. I also watched this video, which I like very much. There are a pile of other lectures by this guy on youtube, really interesting stuff.
Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein.
Sacred Economics by Charles Eisenstein.
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