News, views & muse from Her Majesty's coldest colony

In fields of pessimism, occasional seeds of hope

I could’ve been a contender…

Today’s Financial Times headline reads:

US ‘ready to lead’ on climate change

(FT article as brought to my attention by Jamie Laidlaw: Thanks Jamie!)

I heard that news item on CBC and thought to myself: there goes the unexploited competitive advantage that Canada has had these past few Bush years.

Canada could have been a world leader in greening industry, but instead under Mr. Harper we seem bound to squander our advantage on tax cuts, and turning northern Alberta into wasteland. And now, from the sounds of the budget leaks, we will have to play catch up… that is if our own government ever comes to the realization that they’ve already fallen behind again.

“I could’ve had class. I could’ve been a contender. I could’ve been somebody, instead of a bum…”—Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando), On the Waterfront

  • Find It

  • Focus

    A fermentation (a.k.a. Compost) of media, technology, social justice, art and the environment as experienced on the ground through the eye of one Canadian photo documentarian, intended to help fertilize the zeitgeist and yield a mixed crop of new ideas surrounding civic engagement.

  • Origins

    Out on the land seeking moments and light, I’m often reminded of the similarity between the life and livelihood of a visual journalist/artist and that of the farmer.

  • To Wit

    “Well Ed, the Fishers had their auction last Saturday morning. I watched as the neighbourhood descended on the place and picked it clean. After it was over, and the Fishers had driven off to their new house in town, the auctioneer walked over the property with me. His name’s Freddy. Interesting chap, friendly and outgoing. Runs a beef and dairy herd on the farm next door, plants corn, grain, potatoes, turnips, does auction sales some blacksmithing, small auto repairs and real estate. What I believe is called mixed farming.”

    Letters from Wingfield Farm, ©1989 Douglas Beattie. (Act 1) Wingfield Farm

  • Ongoing Investigations

    • The Meaning of Land
    • Rurality
    • The Nexus of Technology,
       Implimentation and Power in
       Visual Communication
    • Legacies of Colonialism
    • Sustainability vs. Resilience in
       Socio-Ecological Systems

Except where specifically cited to the contrary, ALL CONTENTS ON THIS SITE COPYRIGHT © 2008-09, PETER SIBBALD.
All Rights Reserved.