Author, Affiliation, Date:
Body:
A motion put forward at the Cowichan Valley Regional District board meeting last week, "That staff prepare a report regarding 'Global Peak Oil' as it pertains to the CVRD and local government issues and solutions ..." ran into vituperative, scornful, disparaging comments from nearly all of the regional directors.
The substance of the motion, the looming fossil fuel crisis and its corollary global climate change, barely got through to most directors. Instead they followed administrator Frank Raimondo's jocular but serious threat to forbid any staff members from attending meetings of the CVRD's roundtable on the environment. Purportedly the staff have no time to spend gathering information and writing reports on such a distant topic. Instead they spend their time turning out 50-page documents covering huge development proposals in Mill Bay, Cowichan Bay, Youbou, and Paldi.
North Cowichan Councillor Glen Ridgway voiced the feelings of many when he laughingly explained that even if there is a crisis, and he wasn't too sure about that, there is absolutely nothing we can do locally that would address the problem. Ridgway is a lawyer so he ought to know.
When the vote came it was 13 to 1 or 12 to 2 against the motion. It all happened so fast it was hard to tell and, of course, the CVRD does not keep a record of how politicians vote. Apparently our politicians don't want their voting records to be public when election time rolls around.
In spite of all the workshops, seminars, conventions and meetings the politicians travel to at taxpayers expense they obviously haven't heard much about the future of our planet Earth. Our frenzied consumption of oil, coal and natural gas is causing drastic changes to the earth's atmosphere and climate.
The truth is that we can do a lot more locally to allay those changes than can be done in Victoria or Ottawa. Senior governments are intent on finding new sources of fuel, like turning our food - corn, soybeans, and sugar - into ethanol and bio-diesel fuel so we can continue to run our cars, trucks and airplanes. They also preach, but do little, about alternative energy from wind, solar, and tidal power. We simply do not want to change our wasteful lifestyles.
When change happens it will have to be local because that is the direction we must reorganize our world. We need to relearn the skilled trades we have lost by shipping all of our manufacturing and most of our food production off-shore.
We have an incredible opportunity right now because of the real estate boom. The several large development proposals now being considered by North Cowichan and the CVRD should be structured so each creates a nearly self-contained community. Agriculture and manufacturing in all its forms could become an integral part of each community. Consumerism can become a much less important part of our lives. Competition is wasteful and should be decreased in favour of co-operation in every phase of life.
None of us can predict the future but we can discuss it and help one another search for ways to make our lives more meaningful while using fewer resources. It won't hurt nearly as much as you think.
Got a tip or a comment? E-mail me at maroc@islandnet.com.
Orginal Article
Author, Affiliation, Date:
By Don Maroc Jul 19 2006
Teaser:
North Cowichan Councillor Glen Ridgway voiced the feelings of many when he laughingly explained that even if there is a crisis, and he wasn't too sure about that, there is absolutely nothing we can do locally that would address the problem. Ridgway is a lawyer so he ought to know.
Body:
A motion put forward at the Cowichan Valley Regional District board meeting last week, "That staff prepare a report regarding 'Global Peak Oil' as it pertains to the CVRD and local government issues and solutions ..." ran into vituperative, scornful, disparaging comments from nearly all of the regional directors.
The substance of the motion, the looming fossil fuel crisis and its corollary global climate change, barely got through to most directors. Instead they followed administrator Frank Raimondo's jocular but serious threat to forbid any staff members from attending meetings of the CVRD's roundtable on the environment. Purportedly the staff have no time to spend gathering information and writing reports on such a distant topic. Instead they spend their time turning out 50-page documents covering huge development proposals in Mill Bay, Cowichan Bay, Youbou, and Paldi.
North Cowichan Councillor Glen Ridgway voiced the feelings of many when he laughingly explained that even if there is a crisis, and he wasn't too sure about that, there is absolutely nothing we can do locally that would address the problem. Ridgway is a lawyer so he ought to know.
When the vote came it was 13 to 1 or 12 to 2 against the motion. It all happened so fast it was hard to tell and, of course, the CVRD does not keep a record of how politicians vote. Apparently our politicians don't want their voting records to be public when election time rolls around.
In spite of all the workshops, seminars, conventions and meetings the politicians travel to at taxpayers expense they obviously haven't heard much about the future of our planet Earth. Our frenzied consumption of oil, coal and natural gas is causing drastic changes to the earth's atmosphere and climate.
The truth is that we can do a lot more locally to allay those changes than can be done in Victoria or Ottawa. Senior governments are intent on finding new sources of fuel, like turning our food - corn, soybeans, and sugar - into ethanol and bio-diesel fuel so we can continue to run our cars, trucks and airplanes. They also preach, but do little, about alternative energy from wind, solar, and tidal power. We simply do not want to change our wasteful lifestyles.
When change happens it will have to be local because that is the direction we must reorganize our world. We need to relearn the skilled trades we have lost by shipping all of our manufacturing and most of our food production off-shore.
We have an incredible opportunity right now because of the real estate boom. The several large development proposals now being considered by North Cowichan and the CVRD should be structured so each creates a nearly self-contained community. Agriculture and manufacturing in all its forms could become an integral part of each community. Consumerism can become a much less important part of our lives. Competition is wasteful and should be decreased in favour of co-operation in every phase of life.
None of us can predict the future but we can discuss it and help one another search for ways to make our lives more meaningful while using fewer resources. It won't hurt nearly as much as you think.
Got a tip or a comment? E-mail me at maroc@islandnet.com.
Orginal Article
