45 years ago, Keith Davey chaired a Senate committee that produced a very valuable report on the Mass Media in Canada. Yes, the Red Chamber has done valuable work from time to time over the decades.
The Davey Report said the media needed to do a better job of preparing Canadians for change in the future. How truly prophetic that was, decades before the digital age and the other revolutions that are turning the world on its ear. With that in mind, can you imagine a world where we no longer burn oil and gas, or coal ?
Don’t rush out and sell your shares in oil companies just yet, but Stephen Harper and the other leaders of the G 7 signed an agreement this month that commits us to achieving that goal, 85 years from now, at the end of the century. No one pays all that much attention to such declarations, but it amounts to a Paradigm Shift for a Prime Minister from Alberta.
Harper was definitely hedging his bets, saying the end of fossil fuels will only happen with more revolutionary changes in technology. But perhaps the global marketplace is moving us in that direction already. Production in the oilsands is ramping down, not because of environmentalists who are concerned about climate change. Thousands of workers in and around Fort McMurray are being laid off because the world price is barely half what it was a year ago, and there’s no sign that it’s about to bounce back anytime soon.
Vehicles that are powered mostly by electricity, which were considered little more than a pipe dream a decade ago, are a lot closer now. And it won’t be all that long before the cars will drive themselves, without any nasty collisions.
We are truly in the midst of several revolutions, and the pace of change is not likely to slow down at all. Hang on and stay tuned.
I’m Roger Currie
