[Oe List ...] Jaime for Thursday, July 24

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If you are getting a duplicate of a previous posting that came as one copy of written articles, the individual ones are edited on their way to print.  Edits are minor, so if you had read a previous one, the edit is more of a finessing than anything else.


The usual caveat goes without saying: if curious, you are welcome; not, see you at the bend.


j'aime la vie



-----Original Message-----
From: Jaime R Vergara <pinoypanda2031 at aol.com>
To: editor <editor at saipantribune.com>
Sent: Wed, Jul 23, 2014 6:06 am
Subject: Jaime for Thursday, July 24


Canola and rapeseed
 
I asked my seatmate in the bus to Edmonton, Alberta lastweek if the yellow field abundant by the highway was planted with"rapeseed".  I was told it was"Canola", the rich vegetable oil with a healthy dose of Omega-3 widelyused for cooking. 
 
>From the fields in Manchuria towards NE Nei Menggu, I sawthe same type of fields covered with "rapeseed" but I kept my mouthshut while I googled (yes, the bus had WiFi) the subject.  Sure enough, the oil comes from the seed,Canola being a brand name for "Canada oil".  Our thought now is about the oil and theseed.
 
I am using this innocuous subject to get me past the monthof July.  The first of August is asignificant turning point in my journey, and since evidently, the Canadaportion held more tails of recall and tales of encounter simply by proximity tobrain wave than anything else, I thought I would close the month with itsmention.  It also gives me one morestroke at the recently completed journey and farewell to North America.
 
But first, the oil. There is the edible oil for cooking, Canola from the rapeseed.  It is abundant in Alberta's agriculturalprairie.  The other is the subterraneanoil, evident as pumps seen from the highway brought out the fluid fossil fuelin fields around Red Deer.  
 
The Athabasca tarsands (diplomatically referred to as oilsands) are now subject of international debate; a pipeline to transport theliquefied gas to Nebraska is the subject of concerted protest amongenvironmentalists.  But as my host,retired Pinay Med GP in Edmonton opined, the oil sands are in demand, and ifone was going to mine and process it, "it might as well be conscientiousCanada."  
 
Some might consider the lady delusionary given Canada'strack record on copper mining, but there is no question about the strength of herconvictions.  Nor do 80% of the folks Italked to at the local parish in Calgary where I attended Mass who are employedby one sector or the other of the energy industry have any doubts about thereputation, integrity, and reliability of their employ.
 
But the planting of seeds in Alberta is more focused on thebusiness of Agrium (the chemical inputs like fertilizers, insecticides andpesticides into the commercial growing of field plants); the growth of rapeseedproliferates.  Also, of hay that feedsthe cattle and horses, and other exotic animals in ranches (e.g., elk andbison) and farms, recently on display at the Calgary Stampede grounds.  The bales of hay lie under the summer sun inthe fields, and Alberta this season is adequately watered and gets enough sunto make this year's growth a bumper crop. Ag in Alberta in 2014, compared to drenched Saskatchewan and Manitoba,will be a good year.
 
But like the drenching of Manitoba, the planet is undergoinga major shift in global climate that began more than a decade ago.  Weather patterns are shifting so much thatthere was one day when it was warmer in Alaska than it was in Alabama.  "Weird and unusual" has suddenlybecome "casual and normal" as the flooding in South China andManitoba, and the drought in California and British Columbia strike differentparts of the world that had not been the focus of such weather extremes before.  But even the familiar ones, like typhoon Rammosun in the Philippines and Hainan, camewith Mama Gaia's vengeance this week.
 
Back to Alberta's oil. Sympathetic to our GP friend's sentiment that conscientious Canada canresponsibly handle oil harvests, there is, however, a larger picture on oildrilling, petroleum production and gas distribution that has been the provinceof corporate management not previously known for environmental friendliness nordistributive justice.  
 
All of this is nothing but mental masturbation without theurgency of challenge on our individual lives. We used the Canola and the rapeseed obviously as a metaphor to ourdependence as a society on fossil fuel for power, and the need to seed ourfuture with alternative sources of energy.
 
I encourage the use of hydrogen, now commercially viable assupply and demand increases.  In Canada,I learned of the auto industry's efforts to stamp down electric cars since itrevolutionized production methods that threatened existing industry.  
 
The production of photovoltaic cells has been a source oftension between China and U.S., with the U.S. charging China at WTO of tradepractices inimical to U.S. interests. The WTO recently handed a ruling exonerating China of alleged illegalprotection of the nascent industry.  Oil isnot abundant in China, so harnessing a free resource like the sun comesnaturally.  Hydropower and biomass arealso in the running, along with wind and ocean wave turbines.  
 
The point is that the technologies that do not endanger thelife of a planet whose holding capacity now exceeds by more than half itsinnate regenerative power are present and affordable.  Albertans need to go beyond the comfort of familiarfossil fuel extraction, of crude oil, natural gas, and oil sands, to be theCanada of ethics and conscience it claims itself to be.
 
I shall make it my role to remind them of their choice and story.


j'aime la vie
pinoypanda2031 at aol.com

yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!


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