Let It Be

 

With 2025 already off to a rocky start thanks to governments everywhere falling apart, a psychotic buffoon elected President of the U.S.A., intractable wars in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, and the everlooming threat of climate change hanging over the world, there's never been a better time to consider the merits of stoicism. The problems of the world are too overwhelming and unsolvable so, rather than sink into despair, stoicism offers up a different way of looking at things and managing our emotions.

Take warfare for example. For over 2,000 years Europe has been at war with itself in a seemingly endless clash of ideology and religion to establish the boundaries of nations and empires in one form or another. From Greek and Roman empires through to the Middle Ages and then World Wars 1 and 2 it has never let up and here we are at it again with the Ukraine and Russia. Since it doesn't seem likely this will ever end or that the Europeans will ever learn from history why should we worry about it? Even before the Europeans, the various empires of the Middle East have been conquering one another over the ages with the Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, Ottomans, and ultimately the Europeans trying to take control of the region with predictable results. Once again add a little ideology and religion into the mix and you have perfect conditions for endless warfare.

Global warming is another example of something we may have to examine in a different way. There's no denying we have put more CO2 into the atmosphere as a result of our fossil fuel consumption but unfortunately this is only going to get worse because our energy consumption is growing faster than we can supply it rather than slowing down. Even as we add solar, wind, and nuclear energy we still need the fossil fuels and other energy sources to maintain all of our activities. Energy intensive facilities such as new data centres to power AI and other technologies, are only adding to the problem. As energy historian Jean-Baptiste Fressoz points out in his book, More and More and More: An All-Consuming History of Energy, evolving high-energy societies incorporate their old energy addictions into new ones to solve more problems and, as a result, consume more energy of any kind. Rather than transitioning from consuming wood to coal, for example, we end up using even more wood to build timbers in coal mines and for building railways to haul the coal. Likewise we use even more coal to manufacture steel and other products to enable us to extract oil and transport it by pipeline.

Guera Mountains in southern Chad

There is however a positive aspect to all this increased CO2 in the atmosphere and that is the planet is starting to get greener. From the semi-arid Sahel region, a 3,900 km area stretching east-west across Africa south of the Sahara desert, to the deserts of northern China and southeast Australia, the world's drylands are turning green and the reason is surprisingly simple. Plants grow by photosynthesis (sunlight, water, CO2) and the high concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere makes it easier for this to occur and lets the plants use less water in the process. According to a Yale University study, validated by the University of California, there has been a 12% increase in photosynthesis world wide since 1982 as a result of this CO2 fertilization. So, while the Earth is indeed warming, the threat of desertification is receding and plants are moderating the build-up of gas in the atmosphere.

Alpine National Park in Victoria, Australia

Until we use up all the fossil fuels on Earth we will continue burning them and, as we continue to electrify the grid, our energy consumption will also increase as we mine more and more rare minerals to build the cars, solar panels, windmills, data centers, and nuclear power plants that will follow. We already know the end result of a warming planet is more rapidly melting polar caps, flooding, hurricanes, and forest fires but, because we can't prevent these things from happening, we instead need to learn how to live with these events and build our cities accordingly.

For example in Whitehorse, Yukon a 20 kilometre long fuel break around the south end of the city is being built to help prevent a wildfire from entering. The width of the break is between a few hundred metres to two kilometres. By removing coniferous trees and shrubs from the landscape and replacing them with slower-burning deciduous trees like aspen, the city will have a "living infrastructure" to help with firefighting efforts. Keeping buildings away from flood plains is another obvious preventative measure cities could encourage.

In the end the world's problems may not ever be solvable but there may be steps that can be taken to mitigate how they affect us. Focusing on happiness rather than despair will take some of the stress out of our lives. By practising a little Stoicism we may learn to simply let it be. 

Make Canada Great Again

Now that we've gotten over the shock of a convicted criminal and corrupt businessman being elected by the supporters of law and order, a sex offender and sexist pig being elected by women, a racist and anti immigration champion being elected by blacks and hispanics, and a sacrilegious, spiteful, liar being elected by the Christians, we need to move on and recognize the world is rapidly changing. Rather than wringing our hands in despair Canadians need to embrace the opportunities this change offers us in spite of tariff threats and other sabre rattling. A slap across the face and a kick in the ass is a good way for us to finally wake up.

First on the chopping block should be the dairy and other marketing boards that serve no other purpose except to inflate the cost of milk and cheese while protecting the incomes of the farmers who have managed to secure a quota. The farmers claim that without a marketing board they will go broke. Years ago a similiar situation existed in New Zealand where farmers went from a highly protected market to a very competitive open market and soon became a major exporter of dairy products in the process, thanks to improved efficiency and productivity. We could do the same.

If the Trump administration wants to bring in tariffs on our highly integrated auto industry then its a good time to shut down our subsidized car factories and ask for our money back from those companies who received grants, tax relief, and loan guarantees. With the world Electric Vehicle (EV) market now increasingly dominated by China, which has also cornered the market in car batteries, especially with the recent bankruptcy of Northvolt, we can now cancel the multi-billion dollar subsidies we promised to Volkswagen, Stellantis and others to try and build a competitive battery business. Nobody is going to want or need these batteries and it will save us billions.

Instead of being hewers of wood and drawers of water we should be adding value to our mining, forestry, and petroleum products. Rather than selling cheap crude oil to the U.S. let's refine it ourselves and sell them more expensive gasolene and diesel. Instead of selling raw ore to the U.S. or anyone else let's smelt it and produce the copper, zinc, and steel like we used to in places like Sudbury and Hamilton. And instead of exporting logs and 2x4's why not open up a pre-fab factory and sell pre-made houses?

And with regards to our NATO spending commitments this is a perfect opportunity for us to open up the North with roads connecting some of the communities like the Mackenzie Valley Highway extension, upgrading northern airports with Instrument Landing System (ILS) electronics so they can function in all types of weather, and building deep water ports to service icebreakers and other naval patrol ships. Billions can also be added to the economy by building ships, planes and armoured vehicles in-house which we used to do a lot more of. Remember that at the end of WW2 Canada had the world's 4th largest airforce and navy in spite of our relatively small population.

Best of all we can stop dragging our feet on producing nuclear power. We already have a world leading technology with our CANDU reactors and we should be the leaders in Small Modular Reactors (SMR's) development to power our northern communities as well as providing electricity to mining and other operations in remote areas. Demand for clean electricity is increasing by the day and adding more nuclear power plants to the electrical grid will give us yet another valuable product to export.

For too long Canada has been much too dependant on the U.S. for its economic survival and been all too happy to operate with a branch plant mentality. It's time we shook off those shackles and took advantage of our natural resources wealth to develop the industries the world needs and is willing to pay full price for. If we are going to subsidize anything let it be our own organizations and factories not the subsidiaries of American, European, or Asian companies. It's time for us to pull up our bootstraps and make Canada great again.

From Sea To Sea

While most folks know that Canada is the world's second largest country by landmass, not everyone appreciates that it also has the world's largest coastline by a wide margin. Bounded by the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic Oceans, the total coastline measures over 202,000 km. That's a lot of territory to keep an eye on though, to be fair, there isn't much going on in most of it. Still, each coastline has its own attractions and activities and together they make up a large part of the Canadian identity.

The Pacific northwest coast from Vancouver to Alaska has played host to the most successful groups of Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Nourished by an environment rich in natural resources, particularly salmon and shellfish for food and cedar trees for home construction, dug-out canoes and artwork, this abundance of resources allowed them to build permanent settlements and flourish. It became the most densely populated First Nations area in Canada. Nowadays the coast is a playground for recreational boaters while thousands of others flock to Vancouver to board giant cruiseships and follow the coastline to the glaciers of Alaska while admiring the wildlife, rainforest, and rugged, snow capped, mountain ranges along the way.

The Atlantic coast on the other hand has a much different history, as it is here where Europeans first encountered the First Nations people a few hundred years before they did on the west coast. It was also the scene of many battles between the French and English and their respective native allies. The coastline is sprinkled with lighthouses, beautiful beaches, historic battlements, and lobster fishing fleets. It also boasts the highest tides in the world.

The Arctic Ocean is completely different from the Pacific and Atlantic. Not only is it much colder, it also serves as the highway to connect the few communities that exist in the North. The waters surround many islands that have weathered thousands of years of ice ages and glaciers, and the wildlife that exist are highly evolved to survive in this extremely harsh environment. The Inuit who live here have also managed to adapt and survive over several thousand years. But as unforgiving as the environment is it also has a certain beauty and each of the icebergs floating past are a unique work of art.

While the Arctic Ocean provides the greatest challenge to patrol, the Canadian government has outlined a large multi-billion dollar vessel shipbuilding program that will see up to 50 combat and non-combat vessels constructed for all of Canada's waterways. Half of them will be for the navy and the other half for the coast guard and they include 18 icebreakers. The ships promise to be best in class and in addition to security and protection will provide search and rescue services, emergency response, and a year round presence in the North in support of Indigenous Peoples.  200,000+ km of coastline is a lot of ocean to cover but if we want to ensure our sovereignty from sea to sea, it's probably our most important investment.

Censorship

 

Once upon a time when black & white television ruled the land, families would huddle around the TV to watch one of the few programs being offered on the three or four networks available. When the day's broadcasting was over (sometime around midnight) an Indian-head test pattern would appear and last until dawn when it would all start again. This was the 1950's and some of the most popular shows were; I Love Lucy, Leave It To Beaver, Father Knows Best, Lassie, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, The Lone Ranger, and the Ed Sullivan Show.

In the beginning of the 1950's less than 10% of the population owned a black & white TV but by the end of the decade more than 85% of households had a TV and it had completely taken over home entertainment from radio. Radio would go on to be the primary medium for music. In the 1960's colour TV came into being and the top shows were; Andy Griffith, Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, Green Acres, Gilligan's Island, Dick Van Dyke, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and Star Trek.

The one thing all these programs had in common was their white wholesomeness. Yes, they perpetuated certain stereotypes and were corny but they didn't try or mean to offend in any way. Their purpose was to promote the American way and to entertain with mostly humour. Of course the good guy always won, and there was no swearing of any kind.

By the 1970's things were rapidly changing and social awareness along with a certain edginess was being reflected in the TV programs with titles like; All In The Family, MASH, Happy Days, Kojak, The Jeffersons, Charlie's Angels, Ironside, Dallas, Saturday Night Live, and The Streets of San Francisco. It took until 1972 before sales of colour TV sets surpassed those of black and white ones and it was also the first year all network programming was done in colour. But in the U.S. there were still only three TV networks; ABC, NBC, and CBS that carried all the shows which made it easy for the advertisers to censor and control the programming. 

However, by the end of the 70's the tight control of network TV was blown open with cable TV and an explosion of channels catering to every possible audience. Up until then, whether you watched the evening news on CBS, ABC, or NBC the message was essentially the same and there was an unofficial national consensus on how to view world events. That was now rapidly changing and, alongside with Talk Radio, the discourse was becoming more and more fragmented, extreme, and profane.

Fast forward to the present day with the Internet now connecting every part of Earth and every user a potential broadcast network or content creator, and there is no longer any control of the message. Foul language is the least of anyone's worries when the Internet is filled with hate, fake news, and misinformation. Organizations like Google, Twitter, and Facebook provide an uncensored platform for anyone to say whatever they want, whenever they want.

While we in the democratic "West" allow our society to become bullied, slandered, and fractured under the guise of "free speech" the autocratic "East" has seen the danger and moved swiftly to clamp down on it by outlawing and blocking these same organizations behind a state firewall. By blocking certain websites and/or filtering the content they consider to not be in the best interest of the government or the people, countries like China are acknowledging it's impossible to control the people if they can't control the message. Looking back at the 50's and 60's it really wasn't that much different in the West.

The difference between then and now is how the networks controlled things. In Canada the government used "community standards" and the CRTC to determine whether programming could be censored, but in the U.S., which forbids government censorship, it was left up to corporations to do the censoring and the FCC to do the monitoring for indecent broadcasting. With only three networks offering programming, that was dependant on advertising, a corporate sponser had to approve of the content or it wouldn't be broadcast. With such close competition it was easy to maintain a standard of acceptable content that everyone could agree on.

Why can't the top 10 apps do the same thing today? After all, it's advertising that's driving the business model behind all of them. The governments of each country should put together a set of guidelines on what is considered unacceptable and leave the apps to do their own self-censoring. Corporations should also have to sign off on the sort of things they want their brand associated or not associated with and it should be made public. We certainly have the technology to make this happen.

Free speech doesn't mean you can say "fire" in a movie house and it doesn't mean you can spread lies, incite riots, or promote hatred and sedition. Just because the Internet is worldwide doesn't mean community standards won't vary from country to country, and they should be respected, because there will never be universal agreement on anything. We don't need to go back to the 50's & 60's where there was a totally distorted white centred construct in place, but platform providers and applications need to find a way to censor themselves or more and more governments will start doing it for them.