Discussions

We won’t. We will adapt to new markets different commodities and alternative power sources and sequester more carbon out of the atmosphere back into the soil. Even better soon enough we will have automanous equipment and trucks reducing our need to employ help. New calculations show that Canadian agriculture is removing 33 million tonnes net of carbon from the atmosphere per year: source Western Producer. We will continue our work to improve soil health, increase biodiversity, reduce our own emissions and sequester even more carbon from the atmosphere.  
 
Edited by Farmergeorge, 2020-02-23 22:45:10

You like. I have nothing to hide on my small mixed family farm. I can produce 12 years of soil testing and plant tissue tests produced by an independent agronomist that show improved soil health and crop removal rates of nutrients that match nutrients applied,ie efficient fertilizer use that does not produce run off or leaching. I carefully target herbicide use to each fields requirement using sound agronomic principles and advice which reduces waste and pollution allowing me to harvest safe, healthy, residue free crops. I rotate crops using a four year rotation that reduces weed and insect pressure and improves soil health. My equipment is modern, fuel efficient and low emissions, it is carefully maintained by myself to ensure maximum reliability and fuel efficiency. My cattle are naturally reared and rotationally graze native pasture that is under a conservation agreement which enhances natural diversity and improves grassland, their water is pumped by solar system . We are not perfect and we can do more. We will constantly strive to improve and adapt to new technologies and markets. When I start work each morning I know that I am doing the right things for the right reasons. We have adapted , improved and changed for 5 generations and will continue. 1 in 8 Canadians are employed in agriculture: source Western Producer.  
 
Edited by Farmergeorge, 2020-02-23 22:51:57

we ever hope to inhabit the Moon, Mars or other locations. We will need to find alternatives to fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are ONLY found on Earth because of processes that only happened on Earth. Plant life 400 million years ago that had none of the organisms we have today to break it down. So layers upon layers of dead plant material over millions of years got covered by geological and time processes and became fossil fuels. No where else in the Solar System and possibly the universe has that happened.  
 
Human's also have ALWAYS found alternatives to existing technology. That's how we moved from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. We will move on from the fossil fuel age eventually as new technology develops.

Farmer George says the energy industry is a tiny part of Canada’s economy, and is on the way out. How far from the truth is that in light years. Take every petroleum powered vehicle off the road, and the energy industry will continue to play a major role in our day to day lives. Look around you, in home and out. If it’s plastic, it contains petroleum. Furniture, clothing, and beyond to the shingles on your house. It’s everywhere you look.  
Tiny!? Look at the mess Albertas in economically. You call that tiny? The overall statement was ridiculous.

Oil and gas industry should clean up their act and treat landowners whose property they enter with respect and dignity. They should pay their rental and clean up properly when they leave . They pay the land owner agricultural rates for industrial use and leave their industrial waste behind when they leave. They act as if they own the properties they enter. And no one can dispute that. There are leaks and pollution every day that rarely become public knowledge . There are many abandoned flow lines throughout the country which are unmapped causing pollution risk while no one takes responsibility. When they leave a well site it is not fully returned to its original condition as promised often leaving tonnes of gravel and waste compacted in the ground.

With that George!! I`ll bet my Lotto Max money that it won`t happen in yours or my life time!!! And I`m very glad you don`t allow pipeline through your land, that leaves more for the rest of us that have had a lines go through our land since 1950 with ZERO issues. They pay well, easy to deal with and look after the land exactly as I tell them to and thats enviormentality as possible.

Are happy then that is good. Your experience is not what I have found in dealing in surface rights.

The reaction that elder generations have to a young girl speaking to the pitfalls of the future reality of her generation is truly hilarious. Of course, there is nothing new or clever to add the critique. Just the same old spiel I've heard associated with David Suzuki a few short years ago.  
 
As for pointing the finger at gen Z/Millenials for being hypocritical consumers, I point to economic reality. Though nations differ, the younger cohorts tend to be too tied up with debt / lower incomes (oftentimes related) to spend frivolously. Considering the housing market in Canada, there is another major source of cash. Saving up to hopefully buy a home that was a WHOLE lot cheaper 20, 30, 40 years ago.  
 
People are not dumb. People don't not know that the world runs on petroleum. If THAT is where you are entering this conversation, then frankly, welcome to the realm of the horse & buggy advocates.  
 
Teck Resources obviously saw the writing on the wall. All the pipelines in the world are no match for obsolescence.  
 
Edited by Simonwalcal, 2020-02-24 15:21:51

I hate that it's become so popular to look to the moon/Mars/ elsewhere as a means to escape the hell on earth that is predicted. For a couple reasons:  
 
1.) If humans don't adjust the overall ideology that led us to the point of no return in the first place, then we're just kicking the can down the road. We could find a planet 50 times the size of the earth . . .  
 
2.) I fear that colonies will be a playground (or escape spot) for only the privileged few that can pay the top dollar to Elon in order to make the trip. Leaving the rest of us with what's left.  
 
I don't doubt the Hawking assertion that we're in for a world of trouble. My eyes tell me that. Where I disagree is the response.  
 
If the rich want to build a Las Vegas of sorts on the Moon and/or Mars . . . FINE. Let's just not focus everything in that direction.  
 
I don't know if it's possible to artificially suck 3 generations worth of CO2 out of the atmosphere. I don't know what ramifications THIS would have. Since there are still CFC's and HFC's floating around from past technological advances, I don't know how long they would delay the process until they are broken down.  
 
I just want people to be asking these questions, doing the research. Instead of focusing on what should be a non-starter.  
 
Edited by Simonwalcal, 2020-02-24 15:23:47

Now we start to hear the real story about these 5 hereditary chiefs....they are mostly self appointed and do not speak for their people. They actually must report to another set of sub chiefs who actually govern their people.  
 
So it’s actually 5 chiefs who have no say whatsoever who are breaking traditional laws blocking this gas pipeline. Seems they need to get this figured out, or all of Canada will be protesting for no reason

Are you, even for one moment, asserting that Teck Resources pulled out of the project because of a fear of fossil fuel obsolescence?  
 
They penned an exhaustive letter stating that the political climate and regulatory uncertainty were the reasons.

me your experiences.

farmers are the ones that need to clean up their acts.  
Far larger polluters than any other segment. They seem to get a pass on most things, when it comes to polluters.

spend trillions of dollars to terraform or build colonies on Mars as our future home when we could of spent that money to cleanup Earth really would say something about humanity. If we get to that point, we are screwed as a species.  
 
Right now we seem more intent on recovering as much oil as fast as we can and screw our climate. Don't you dare impede the oil industry in any way or propose any alternatives to oil. And yes, that may change how we do things, our products, our lives. But as we have seen through human history, we adapt. There's no reason why we can't adapt to moving away from oil.  
 
And yes, Earth's climate has always been changing naturally. But we humans are adding on top of that natural changes. We can't do anything about natural processes, but we can change the human impact. We could be the first species that caused our own extinction. While that will be in the future, it is a possibility. And Greta is absolutely right about that!!! Life depends on certain environmental conditions to exist and it either has to adapt or go extinct. And that's simple biology, chemistry, history.  
In Earth's past, CO2 levels may of been higher than now, but species also adapted or evolve in those conditions.  
 
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/carbon-dioxide-levels-reach-highest-point-human-history-180972181/  
 
We have released 10's of millions of years of worth of CO2 in the matter of 200 years.  
 
It seems like if you start doing research and asking questions and it comes to reducing our use of oil. Can't be done, got to protect the oil industry no matter what.  
 
In the end the Earth it self doesn't care what happens, it has seen it all. It's just weather Homo Sapiens will continue to exist or just become just another footnote in history. And while that may of come naturally eventually, we are speeding up that date to extinction.

in western Canada are mostly Conservatives, they don't believe in human caused climate change. And whenever there are anything to make polluters clean up their act, they want a pass, exemptions, subsidies. And the changing climate will affect them the most. If we start getting yearly droughts or yearly heavy rains or just more erratic weather overall that ruin crops, they are screwed. Their crops can't keep up with the increasing CO2 levels either. If the conditions that happened during the 1930's happened today would be unimaginable!!

We are screwed as a species. I need to look no further than this thread to know that.  
 
But since people around me are having children, I like to think that I am looking for a way to give the situation a silver lining. So i'm not just listening to the older petrol supporters who can't see reason because the average lifespan of a human leaves no reason for them too.

Where do you get your information that Conservatives do not believe in human caused climate change? Many, that I know, simply believe that the emergency/crisis is not as grave as many claim. CO2 emissions should be improved and has been thanks to a lot of hard work done in manufacturing, agriculture and the resource sector. Maybe if some people would give a little credit to the evil corporations , compromise could exist instead of discourse. If we continually demonize industries that do emit CO2, we ensure that responsible practice on their behalf is not part of the solution.  
 
https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/climate-change/greenhouse-gas-emissions/sources-sinks-executive-summary-2019/_jcr_content/par/mwsadaptiveimage_1133789712/image.img.jpg/1554984854601.jpg  
 
The above graph shows GHG emissions per capita for Canada.  
 
Edited by JustASoul, 2020-02-24 19:18:19

my Facebook feed with what many of my conservative friends post.

read my previous replies to you then it would become quite clear the efforts that my family is making to protect and improve our property while efficiently producing safe, healthy food. It is in the interest of landowners to take care of our air, soil and water as that is where our living comes from.  
 
Edited by Farmergeorge, 2020-02-24 23:09:31

Of us are not farmers. That obviously i:ncludes TrevorB and Tlr. George seems to have figured it out... I personally don’t think it’s a good idea to rag on the farmers for getting breaks and authorities looking the other way when it comes to pollution and looking after our planet. The way everything in the farming industry is regulated now is ridiculous. Everything from fuel, fertilizer and chemical storage facilities to the livestock housing this industry is overly regulated. Every time there is a protest or barricade - with a valid agenda or not - the law makers jump to another knee-jerk reaction....because the media’s fear mongering drives the gullible masses to the next bandwagon. And most people don’t seem to realize that this all comes at a cost... to them. I’m not saying that change isn’t needed. But at what cost? The reason small family farms are a thing of the past is because of over-regulation. Smaller farms can not afford to comply and assume the extra costs. And much as it would be nice to have viable alternatives to the oil industry that the world so heavily relies on, today it is not feasible so we need oil. Maybe someday that will change???  
Farming is the only industry in the world that purchases all their inputs (from seed and fertilizer to livestock facilities and of course equipment) at full retail prices and then turns around only to sell their finished product at wholesale prices. That does not sound like a good business model but it’s the way it is. In general, I don’t think we should blame the farming sector for most of our environmental concerns.

nicemoustache. Thanks for the kind words at least some people seem to understand the situation we are in. Especially those of us that still have the small family farms.

If you are implying that pipelines don't clean up you are totally wrong. you are also wrong about access to land . This is expropriation and AFIK only a level of government can do that. I live a mile south of pipelines and I can tell you after they are finished it is back to original landscaping. Landowners here are very happy ! If you have had a bad experience you can probably resolve this with whomever that is if you want to !