I spent the first week of June at a Canadian Society for Chemistry Conference in Toronto.
It was the 100th anniversary and over 3,300 chemists attended five days of discussions and presentations about the latest research in chemistry.
It was a marvelous time with talks on the history (herstory?) of Canadian female chemists, new inorganic drugs for the treatment of cancer, arsenic levels in arctic ice, interstellar chemical compounds, self-replicating organic molecules and supramolecular thin-film silicon electrodes able to read the impulses in multiple single neurons simultaneously.
Actually, the last talk was also a bit creepy as they have managed to grow the electrodes into the brains of mice and follow its thoughts.
They have had the silicon implants in the brains of some mice for a year. They have even built crude neural networks which can act as artificial retina. Where is this going? Will we all end up with computer chips in our brains?
In any case, it was a week of optimism and hope. It was a week where, as a scientist, you get the feeling so much progress is being made and our future looks bright.
It was a week of dreaming about what could be.
Then I came back to reality.
U.S. President Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of the Paris Accords. According to the president, the accords will hurt the American economy and cost American jobs.
True, but only in the sense that some jobs - such as coal miner - will slowly fade away as alternative sources of energy are found and implemented. Other jobs - for example, windmill turbine engineer - will see increases in employment. Economic diversification is part of the evolution of the global economy.
The trick is to be at the front of the wave to catch the benefits.
Being a world leader in alternative energy is a ticket to future prosperity. Indeed, this has been the hallmark of the American experience: being adaptable to change and the advances of industry.
It would seem that Trump would rather keep the lamplighters employed than have electric streetlights or keep millworks weaving clothe rather than develop automated looms.
Rather than embrace the need for innovation and development represented in the Paris Accord, the president would take America back to the good ol' days.
The rest of the world will keep moving, though, and eventually, if his economic vision prevails, the United States will lose its eminence in the world economy.
Innovations in research labs, developments in industrial labs, new products and production will eventually fade away. Empires are no longer lost on the battlefield.
They are now lost in the boardroom.
The world of science is a globalized free market.
The work being performed in research labs in Germany generate products in China.
The research being carried out at UBC results in better production processes in Chile. Scientific discoveries know no boundaries and can lead to innovation anywhere in the world.
The push over the past decade around the globe and amongst the various scientific societies has been for free public dissemination of all results from all studies. The intent was to ensure the public saw where its taxpayer dollars were going.
The unintended consequence has been to ensure the rise of science-based development in every country.
The question Canada and more particularly British Columbia needs to ask is "are we going to be buyers or sellers in the new economy?"
I would and have strongly urged for us to be sellers. If the Americans truly are determined to walk away from innovation in order to maintain antiquated economic industries, we need to step in and ramp up the high-tech innovation industry.
Imagine if the leading manufacturer of wind turbines in North America is located in Prince George.
The jobs and multiplier effect on the local economy would be incredible. We have the infrastructure to move products anywhere.
We have an industrial base and manufacturing capacity. We even have a potential labour force.
Instead of closing our doors and denying climate change as a global issue, we in Prince George and British Columbia should be opening our doors and saying "we are here to help."
We should be looking to the future because the past is, well, history.
With that in mind, electrification of just about everything is the likely way we will power the future - both in the province and beyond. With the world population set to reach eight billion in less than a decade and 11 billion by 2050, British Columbia is going to see its population grow by two million more people. Finding the power to run the economy will be a critical issue and, personally, I think Site C makes sense in that context.
But regardless, we can lead if we so choose. We just need to move past the dreams and start on the reality to diversify our economy.
