The great rural hope

Finally, something we can really get into - and not get hurt.

Noted scientist, Kings County resident and former Acadia University president Dr. Kelvin Ogilvie and Environment and Labour Minister Mark Parent presented a seminar on the green economy at the Eastern Kings Chamber of Commerce breakfast at Scotian Gold, Coldbrook, last week.

Ogilvie, former chairman of the Premier's Advisory Council on Innovation, pointed out the environmental economy is about opening things up, not shutting them down.

He noted development has to come from within the province, not from a saviour from away. Tidal power is a great opportunity, given that more power is available through the Minas Channel than through all the world's rivers combined.

I suspect that once we get the energy aspect down, other industrial and domestic costs will decline. It makes sense.

It would take some doing to bungle it enough to match the disasters we're currently undergoing: Trenton Works, Dartmouth’s Moirs and Kings’ own Canard Poultry.

As Ogilvie noted, there are challenges: a lack of post-grad research and development and the fact that our province is slipping in relation to comparable economies among the 60 provinces and states.

Parent outlined the government's new Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act, which sets goals, guidelines and target dates for such things as emissions standards, land preservation, waste reduction and energy sources.

He pointed out the province's waste reduction technology is already gaining international attention.

A green economy is a more realistic theme than the old high-tech, “knowledge economy” of the “post-industrial era” - horse poop we've had to step through in the past.

We're lucky in a sense: we're under-populated. We have an opportunity to get things in place - starting with attitudes - before the population increases.

This increase - if it does transpire in the future - could be from the effects green economy, but also returning Maritime baby-boomers and folks who finally realized the benefits of living in a rural, seaside community.

As for people coming to start lives here, Ogilvie noted we have to have an economy to draw them.

All wise words

As for immigration, a subject not really touched upon in the seminar, I would think international agreements wouldn't be amiss. The Dutch settlement program of the 1950s is a model to examine for repetition from other countries. It was rural-based, and gave people a stake on the land. Rural immigration allows folks to keep their roots, while assimilating into the socio-economic fabric.

Maybe our new environmental economy will provide a catalyst through which this long-awaited revival can transpire.