As B.C. moves toward cleaner and more sustainable forms of energy and leaves the oil, gas and coal in the ground, we'll need alternative economic drivers.
Humans will always need to buy food. With this in mind, let's use B.C.'s natural resources to make our province one of the world's great food-producing regions.
Instead of wasting water on fracking and mining, let's use it for irrigation, canals and transportation. Instead of wasting made-in-B.C. hydro power on liquefied-natural-gas plants, we could power up more farms, food processing plants, greenhouses, and farm equipment with this renewable resource.
Farming alone is an $11-billion-a-year industry in B.C., but we're just scratching the surface. We're the third-largest producer of cranberries in the world. Let's get to that level with other crops and products.
We could blanket the province with small farms that grow just about anything there's a demand for, and cottage-style factories that turn out value-added foods.
Imagine a large public market on the outskirts of every small community; many exist already. Imagine dozens of them for the larger cities, along the same rail corridor. Imagine electric trains that take locally produced food and shoppers to these markets.
Many rail beds still exist, so let's build a modern, efficient electric train network like the ones they have all over Europe. Spend the billions that are earmarked for the Site C dam.
As California runs short of water and suffers extreme weather events and we experience a warmer climate in B.C., let's take advantage. We could grow oranges and lemons, as a farmer in North Saanich did last year. Make crops grow year-round. Let's grow food in greenhouses heated by geothermal in Radium, Fairmont, Nakusp and Harrison.
Those living in regions where the ground is frozen in winter can work on the value-added products such as jams, jellies, preserves and jerky.
We could make more wine, more beer. How about vodka from B.C.-grown potatoes? How about more made-in-B.C. whisky? And B.C. bakeries using flours milled from our own grains.
Let's get more cattle, sheep, llamas, bison and ostrich grazing naturally and in small groups on our massive grasslands. On less arable land, farmers could grow blackberries, gooseberries, quinoa and amaranth. Where little grows, let's catch the rainwater, bottle it in glass and sell it, too.
We could make our lakes and rivers teem with fish again. Bring back the wild salmon and halibut and put salmon farms on land so their product can be certified as sustainable. Let's introduce other species to container aquaculture, too. We could continue farming clams, oysters, scallops and geoducks in eco-friendly ways but grow more.
Our craft-beer industry has grown exponentially in a short time, and tourists come to sample the beer and even go on bike and beer tours. It's a model for other local, sustainable and small-batch products.
Let's move away from farming being a fossil-fuel-intensive industry by using horses and farm-sized kabuki cabs to take the crops to nearby storage elevators and then the trains to more distant markets.
rade pipelines, tankers, spills, leaks and boom-and-bust cycles, for a steady stream of tourists coming to view and photograph unspoiled landscapes and seascapes, wild rivers and pristine lakes with people and animals living naturally and in harmony. Boatloads more would come to get their fill of our wonderful foods and libations.
So let's remove any disincentives and tariffs around food production, and transfer the fossil-fuel subsidies to the food producers and get on with building the world's greatest food economy.
Long before the fossil fuels are hardly thought of anymore because we left them in the ground, we will harness the limitless energy from the sun, the wind and the tides. Then, as now, humans will still need to eat.
