I wanted to begin today's entry with a picture I recently took, while helping a friend move. I did not take this picture to show how educational literature usually ends up once school is done, but rather to create an example...a metaphor if you will, regarding how much the world has changed and where Canada currently stands. Hopefully, if you are able to hang on and finish this post, you will agree with me that although there has been a significant shift on the world stage, there are a few out of this world solutions that will benefit Canadian industry/society as well as prop up the entire world as well.
In the photo above, your eye will catch the maple leaf alongside the word "globalization" first most likely, with the recycling bin becoming an obvious observation shortly after.
This picture, although quite simple, is supposed to portray a strong message regarding where Canada stands in the world.
Our country has embraced globalization with open arms and like much of the other industrially advanced countries, have supported the rise of financial globalization, which has ultimately allowed developing countries to rise up. China for example, has benefited greatly from globalization and with the increased power it has been given from multi-national corporations, the country has been able to dramatically change its financial, social and industrial sectors. So much so, that today officially marked the acknowledgement that China has topped the USA in terms of trade with other countries.
While this may not seem like much of an announcement for the average person, the implications of this information and the possible outcomes from it are endless and very important. We now have a Communist Darwinian Capitalist country not only producing and exporting more than any other country, but also building (at a faster and scarier rate) space program accompanied by military expansions. I still stand by my previous estimates that China as a country will fall within the decade due to social change if climate change does not cause it first. However, the human race now faces the possibility that the Chinese may beat us in the space race and thus dominate the skies if allowed to expand uncontrollably.
I refer to the government of China as: "Communalists".
Space is no secret to anyone, unless maybe the Taliban, but essentially everyone to some extent has knowledge of space or has been impacted by it. Corporations are not excluded from this as they have already put contributed to space missions and plan on beginning space resource extraction, which is good news for the human race, but bad news if left to be dictated by a corporation or worse..the Chinese government.
If Canada and the United States does not begin thinking more spade oriented, we risk losing the new space race to the Chinese and thus set the stage for "Sweat Shops in the Heavens" to be formed. Why do I name it this you may ask? Well, China currently plans to push its space program further and develop and implement an independent space station. Not only that, many of it's allies such as North Korea and Iran, also have their own space missions planned to accompany their current ballistic missile programs.
While these endeavors may lead to increased productivity and advancement, it can also very easily end up transforming in a new Cold War of sorts. The irony of this threat is that we as Canadians and consumers are supporting and developing the very problem that threatens us.
What We Can Do:
The Canadian government alongside with the Americans and Europeans need to break away from their addiction to oil and cheaply made Chinese goods.This means that we as individuals need to start investing into renewable energy sources and begin developing a consumer conscience. How do you do this? Ask where your purchases are being made and avoid as many items as you can that are developed or manufactured under Chinese or sweat shop labour. Secondly, start supporting Canadian labour and the individuals who are currently employed in it. If we allow our middle class and labour movement to be shrouded and destroyed by Big Business, we essentially allow the full consent for our items to be built cheaply in China and further support rogue regimes blindly.
Next, our government needs to smarten up and begin implementing policies that promote growth in new and prosperous industries such as solar and space programs. You have to remember that every penny(well, nickel now) that we put into the space program, we get back through taxation and well paid jobs. Not to mention that we reap whatever we may sow from our space missions and can dictate what policies or protocols can be used.
Imagine if China advances beyond our current level of space exploration and theoretically is able to make first contact with another being or object, do we really want a Communalist making first contact, especially if that contact would essentially change our history books and state of mind? The power in this hypothetical scenario is tremendous.
I understand that these steps are not easy and would most likely take a very long time with the current government we have, however the change and benefits that would be attained through this kind of transformation would essentially solve many of the problems we face on earth. With the potential to harvest resources from space, humanity has an endless supply of materials that would most likely revolutionize our society and energy demands. This would allow more people to be fed, more people to be housed, more forms of transportation, more taxes for the government, more employment for the people and less things to worry about for the environmental movement. Mind you, there would be the requirement of dictating what could and could not be done in space, but that is why it is important that a country or countries be tasked with this endeavor, not corporations or Communalists. The only thing that space requires us to maintain is our morality.
I want you to think about that for a moment...the endless possibilities that could be achieved from space development and renewable, but also the potential for peace if such an endeavor was attempted properly and by figures that would not represent solely themselves.
Currently, Canada has become a resource based exporter and we are suffering from "Dutch Disease", so much so that our own government has lost track of how badly the situation has become. I fear for our safety and I fear for our future as a country if we allow ourselves to be continually marginalized into one specific sector and not allowed to be free and wild as we once were. Canadians built the CN Tower, we built the Canadarm, we traversed large lands of nature and have worked hard to become an example of care keepers of the world. This has all changed in the new world that we currently live in however and it is going to become worse if average people like you and I stand idle.
Chris Hadfield has made headlines in the media for his stint in the international space station and realistically, that is how it should remain...an international effort that brings us together socially and scientifically and thus promotes peace.
Globalization has been a complete failure and this is because it has amalgamated our world financially and through business, which unfortunately fails to reinforce the more important aspects of life...the quality and development of the societies that make up the countries on Earth.
I appreciate your patience in reading this far and I want to leave this entry at this point, as always I welcome your comments and would love a discussion if you have an opinion you would like to state.
Continue to live free, be proud of your country and inspire change.
Until Next Time!
