Energy and Food Sustainability
By Drew Chisholm

Recently there has been a lot of talk about Global Warming and Climate Change. These are worthy of a lot of thought and action but they are only the beginning of the process to take care of the environment. We must remember plants, as well as animals and people, are part of the environment.

We need to be concerned about environmental alteration, not just climate change. We must be concerned about all pollutants, not just green house gases (GHG’s.) No chemicals should be used unless they are studied and tested for damage to animals, plants and the environment. These studies must be made public.

Three things we all need are housing, food and energy. We must get these without damaging the environment too much. Any activity we do will alter the environment. We must be able to get these in such a way so all forms of life can continue to live.  We must become sustainable in obtaining all of these three things. We may want more things than the big 3 but sustainability is the key. If we are not sustainable in these, then we will run out of them and we may perish.

To reduce energy wrt food, we should use local foods as much as possible. We must grow them without harmful chemicals. BC and Canada should be self-sufficient wrt food. We may import food from other places but at no net cost to the environment.

BC and Canada should be self sufficient and sustainable in energy as well. We have to look at how we are going to get our energy.  We must do a complete and thorough study of all ways we can generate energy, whether it be hydro, coal, solar, geothermal, wind, nuclear, wood, biofuels, gas or any other source of energy. All methods must be examined and these results must be public. Only after such a study can we use an energy source. We must do this so our energy sources are sustainable and not harmful to the environment.

For example, with the Site C Dam project, we would look at the costs to the environment, people displaced, farmland lost, water use downstream and the generation of energy without producing GHG’s.

No undertaking such as mining, housing developments, highways, etc. can be done without an environmental and sustainability analysis. We must be careful not to remove too many plants or trees, as we need them to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Other wastes must be recycled rather than thrown into landfills or oceans. Recycling must become a major activity in our sustainable culture.

We must develop a national and provincial energy plan so we can look forward and know we can have a healthy life for future generations.

Please note: the opinions expressed in these stories are those of the authors and not necessarily shared or endorsed by Dialogue Programs