Western Seperation

[Deb]

Writing Off the Rural West is edited by Roger Epp and Dave Whitson, published by the University of Alberta Press in 2001. Your local bookstore will order it for you if you can't find it.

[Deb]

I don't know where you've been, but the world is entirely pissed off at the U.S. and there's a bunch of nutcases in charge, ready to nuke the world. Bush and his government are made up of oil and munitions barons and they are using "terrorists" as an excuse to invade other countries. I don't want my son to go to war for oil corporations.

CBC represents all of Canada, that's why I listen to it all day. My relatives are spread across Canada and this helps me understand their needs and thoughts and CBC binds Canada together nicely. That eastern elite you despise so much is rapidly chopping up the CBC so you don't have to worry, soon there'll be no public broadcasting.

As for oil and gas, agriculture, and NAFTA, I'll never convince you that American takeover has left us horribly vulnerable and small oil producers, like small farmers, have been swallowed up by American corporate imperialism. The profits go south.

[cowman]

When you say the entire world is pissed off with the U.S. do you include our own government who are basically in lockstep with Bush? Or Tony Blairs' Britain? Why is it that the American public are squarely behind their leaders if they are a bunch of "nuts"? Are we so much more enlightened and morally right than our American neighbors?
Do you really believe the CBC is unbiased? Can you not detect a strong leftist bias? Why should we even have public broadcasting? Is it fair to the private companys trying to compete?
The truth of the matter in the oil and gas business is that it is an international business. There are big players from all over the world. And Deb there is not one thing stopping you from buying shares in American oil companys and getting your fair share of those profits! Would you be happier if the profits went down east to Bay Street? Or maybe to the old state-owned Petro Canada?
You need to realize that the whole idea of a socialist state has proven to be a complete failure. The American republic is the best system the world has. Not perfect...but still the best.

[Muttley]

It is easy for people to say the U.S.A. is pushing it's weight around the world. When there are nuts like terrorists or people like Saddam out there I'm very proud to be neighbors with the United States.
I feel that the U.S.A. could offer us more than the east can ever. Would I be willing to join the states as a country is not quite so clear to me yet. I think I would, but how much of my thinking is clouded by my hatred for our eastern government.

[Deb]

Americans are waking up from shock after 911 and wondering what is going on with their warmongering government that's eager to start invading more foreign countries. Read "Stupid White Men" by Michael Moore. It's #1 bestseller all over. By the fifth day of release, the book had gone into its 9th printing! Thousands of people are lining up to hear Michael Moore speak out.

You won't hear much from private media because their advertisers (corporate America) have them blackmailed into not questioning what George Bush, the oil industry, and the CIA are doing.

Canada is afraid to piss the U.S. off. Most of the free world is very, very dismayed at what the oil-backed U.S. government is contemplating.

I don't invest in the oil and gas industry because it causes air pollution through noxious gases and greenhouse gases as well.

That is false to say that social governments have all failed. Lots of countries like Denmark are doing just fine. Besides, as with any government, it is the character of the people who run it that counts as well as the character of the people behind the people who run it.

[cowman]

I have not read that book but I sure will!
I'm always a little concerned when people rip the oil and gas industry. I always wonder...Do you drive a car. Do you enjoy your computer, television, microwave, hot tub etc. All mostly powered by gas fired generators. And how about plastic? What would our world look like without plastic? I guess we could replace a lot of plastic products with wood...but then we have to consider the trees rights, too! Oil and gas have driven our economy in Alberta for many years. This is the industry that allows us(and a good portion of Canada, through our transfer payments) to have the affluent lifestyle we have. It is one of the few industries that allows a young person to make a decent living, without spending years/mega-dollars in extended(and often worthless) education.
I am always amazed how people have a tendency to bite the hand that feeds them!

[cakadu]

Deb, that Stupid White Men book sounds kind of intriguing and I will be sure to find it and read it.

Do you happen to have the ISBN number for the book - Writing off the Rural West? It's usually found on the back of the book and makes it much easier to track and order.

Thanks

[Deb]

Writing Off the Rural West's ISBN number is 0-88864-378-0 Enjoy!

[Deb]

All things in moderation. The oil and gas industry has boomed like crazy in this provence. Easily accessible oil and gas reserves will only last another 50 years or so. I sure hope we're into solar and wind power by then. Along with the gas wells comes poisoned agricultural land, livestock and people.

Like I said, I have no stock in oil and gas and I have a fair amount of stock and am searching high and low for ethical and environmental funds and trying to sell stock so I can take the cash to build or provide something useful to my local community in which I live.

Somewhere around 90% of Alberta's energy comes from burning coal. We built an energy efficient home with an R-28 value. It's made with structurally insulated panels with OSB board and rigid insulation in between. The OSB is made mostly from aspen. Most light is natural since we have big windows facing south that are argon-filled and prevent heat from passing through. In summer when the sun is high, the eve shelters the windows from the hot sun. We also have a heat exchange on the furnace intake. We use fluorescent lights where possible and shut lights off when nobody will be in the room. I even designed the garage roof so that when I buy my first electric car, we can put solar panels on the roof to charge the car.

We also have a bunch of water-saving devices and gray-water diversions to save water, but that's another story.

Plastic - I remember telling someone someday that plastic will end up killing the planet and wondered if it causes cancer. I'm suspicious of any man-made molecule that nature does not know how to dispose of quickly. Plastic is killing our oceans as it breaks apart and the marine life eats it and starves or chokes or whatever. The more plastic produced, bought and thrown away, the quicker the landfills fill. When the wind blows here, plastic grocery bags hang on trees from miles downwind of the landfill. I take reusable cloth bags to the grocery store. I recycle all my #2 plastic and buy things in clear glass containers which are more recyclable.

Paper - I recycle paper and buy recycled paper to complete the circle. Paper can be made out of any plant that produces cellulose. Hemp fibres are longer than tree fibres and so make better paper and straw of any kind would, actually. Houses on the prairie in grain-growing areas should be made of straw bales.

Our lifestyle in this 21st century is too affluent. The more affluent we get it seems, the more "poor" in spirit we become. And if the lesser developed countries want our lifestyle, we would need 3 more planets to supply them. Read "Our Ecological Footprint" by Mathis Wagernagel and William Rees published by The New Society Publishers, ISBN: 1-55092-251-3.

Consumers buy so much stuff because they don't realize that human relationships are what keep our gregarious civilization happy. Community and friendships are what make the world go around, not money (or it shouldn't be money). Buying garbage we don't need is encouraged by advertisers who are like the drug pushers that try to convince us, the consumer-addicted, that we need what we don't need. They tell us we must buy a big new SUV if we want to increase our status. They tell us we are better parents if we take our children to McDonalds as often as possible.

We need to slow down, shop locally and keep the money circulating in our communities, pay farmers more directly for the food they grow and relax once in awhile in nature.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

[countryguy]

Deb,I hope you don't take this the wrong way but sounding like you just built a new home,would you have built it out of straw?

[cowman]

Deb: I am kind of shocked you would participate in such an evil capitalistic institution as the stock market! But then like you said it is for a good cause, right? Sort of the ends justify the means?
I am sure you do your part to save the planet and probably the whales! Probably hugged a tree or two? And just reading between the lines I'll just bet you are one of those "affluent" people, but not the greedy selfish ones, I'm sure!
Believe it or not I can respect your point of view. It is not a bad thing. Maybe a little bit out there in LALA land but that is okay...we need idealists in this world, too!

[cowman]

And incidently Deb, the amount of energy produced by coal is 75% and falling fast as practically all new generating facilities are gas fed. Which is good as coal is a very dirty fuel compared to NG. I also note that the latest costs for wind power generated power coming from Cowley in Southern Alta. is 30 cents/kwh. Compare that to my last power bill at 6.93 cents/kwh? Sure hope that old gas and coal lasts my lifetime!!!