And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (S.I.S.I.S.) writes:
[S.I.S.I.S. note: The following mainstream news article may contain biased
or distorted information and may be missing pertinent facts and/or context.
It was also published in the Victoria Times Colonist, December 14, 1998.
The writer Guy Dauncey is described as "a specialist in sustainable
community development and the editor of EcoNews. He can be reached at
[EMAIL PROTECTED], the Times Colonist at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
ECONEWS
______________________________________________________________
Newsletter No. 78 - Serving Vancouver Island's Environmental Community -
Dec. 1998
______________________________________________________________
BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE,
"POST-OOPS" ISLAND ECONOMY
With the collapse of the west coast salmon coupled with the crisis in the
woods, many smaller communities on Vancouver Island are really hurting,
from Ucluelet and Gold River to Port Hardy. Both collapses follow decades
of overfishing, fish habitat destruction and unsustainable harvesting; both
stem from our ignorance of forest and ocean ecology.
* When the Asian and Siberian native people arrived in North America, after
crossing the Bering Strait land-bridge 11,000 years ago, they discovered an
abundance of mammoths which had never known a human spear. When the
European people arrived on the same continent 500 years ago, they
discovered an abundance of forests, buffalo, birds and fish which had never
known an axe, a gun, or (later) a high-tech trawler. In both instances, the
result was extinction, or near extinction.
It is one of our most abiding human characteristics that we learn
painfully, by trial and error. Is this our "original sin" - the often
painful truth that there is no escaping from the consequences of our freely
made choices ? Is it possible that one of the reasons why the native elders
have such a strong ethic of respect for nature is that they carry a deep
ancestral memory of the tragic results of overfishing and overharvesting ?
The problem wasn't that Adam and Eve picked the apple - it was more likely
that they clearcut the entire Garden of Eden, and had to move on. Perhaps
God is our original ecological conscience. In the big picture, this is what
we are facing today : the "Oops" Factor, as in "Oops - that didn't work."
The modern age has been full of wonders - but it has been equally full of
"Oopses". Overfishing and clearcut forestry are just two. There are many
more to come.
Fossil fuels ? Oops. The overuse of antibiotics ? Oops. Ocean-based
fish-farming ? Oops. Chemically-based agriculture ? Oops.
The important question, especially for the forestry and fisheries
communities which are suffering from 'post-oops' trauma, is "How do we
recover ?". What does the "post-oops" world look like ? How do we marry
sustainability with new jobs ?
The people of Cortes Island are considering one solution. After years of
conflict with MacMillan Bloedel over clearcutting, the Island Forest
Committee is looking at the possibility of purchasing MacBlo's 1800
hectares of forest holdings and managing them themselves, in an
ecologically certified manner. The proposal would bring secure, long-terms
jobs, with a steady flow of sustainably harvested forest products for sale
to the ethical timber markets, both in Europe and to local entrepreneurs.
It would also provide an opportunity for younger people and people on lower
incomes to build their own houses, in affordable co-operative clusters.
And why not ? Maybe the best use for the Forest Renewal Funds would be to
leverage community-based buy-outs of private forest companies and crown
lands forest licenses, all over the Island.
A similar idea is already up and running in Denmark, where 100,000 farmers
in small rural co-operatives have become partners and investors in wind
farms - and where Denmark (population 5 million) has gone on to become one
of the world's leading exporters of wind power technology. It all started
with one family who saw a future in wind power, who decided not to do it
the normal capitalist way. With such an urgent need to unhook ourselves
from fossil fuels (another of the "Oops family"), on an Island blessed with
west coast storms, could the people of Gold River and Ucluelet become
partners in major renewable energy operations, as the Danish farmers have
done ?
The same could apply with tidal energy (see Blue Energy story, inside).
Could communities from Campbell River to Alert Bay, where there are fast
tidal rushes, become partners in tidal turbine projects ? Tidal and wind
energy from around the Island could supply electricity, and be used to
manufacture hydrogen, to drive our vehicles. Yes, there is life in a
"post-oops" economy.
One of the keys lies with tapping into local community capital to finance
new investments. All around the world, from Mondragon (Spain) where 28,000
people work in highly successful worker financed co-operatives, to
Saskatchewan's Community Bonds, this has been a key to success (along with
training). Ecotourism operations, expanded organic farming, eco-industrial
parks - these can all be part of a community-financed economy.
We have to tap into our own resources and our own self-reliance to dig our
way out of the "Oops" era. Depending on the largesse of government is only
the mirror image of depending on the largesse of nature. The "Post-Oops"
era must have balanced financial budgets and balanced ecological and
watershed budgets. Then we can work our way back into the Garden of Eden -
this miraculous natural heritage into which we have all been born.
- Guy Dauncey
ECONEWS
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
DOWN WITH ECO-RACISM, GREEN IMPERIALISM AND ENVIRO-COLONIALISM
EcoNews: (250) 592-4473
Email Guy Dauncey - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed
a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty
P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2
EMAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html
SOVERNET-L is a news-only listserv concerned with indigenous
sovereigntist struggles around the world. To subscribe, send
"subscribe sovernet-l" in the body of an email message to
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
For more information on sovernet-l, contact S.I.S.I.S.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
