Tag: Economy

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The timing of spring

After almost 3 weeks in Brussels and London (delayed by the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano), I confess to having mixed feelings about coming home.

That’s because it’s really spring in Brussels. When we got there on April 4, the daffodils were past their peak. Forsythia – great bunches of it growing wild – was everywhere. The cherry trees on the streets were blooming pink, and along the highways were many white-blooming trees and bushes. The trees were just on the edge of leafing out when we left Brussels on April 19th.

Sure looks like daffodils and primula were growing wild on the forest floor in the Belgian Ardennes region, April 2010

Now at home, my daffodils have just started, and they’re early this year. I’d counted on this when we planned the trip: seeing two springs. And I will enjoy my second spring as much as the first.

So what is it about Nova Scotia that makes us put up with this extra month of not-quite-spring? And with the cold winters that would kill the broadleaf evergreens that keep Brussels green all year? That’s what I was asking myself as I went for my walk today.

And of course the answer is: the wildness of it. Nature raw and pure. Everything in Europe has been trod upon, cultivated, dug up and built over many times. There is hardly a river that follows its natural course through riverbanks that it carved itself. Humans have had their way with the land for thousands of years.

And we’re having our way with the land in Nova Scotia too, it’s just that we haven’t been here so long in such numbers. Natural shoreline is gradually diminishing, soils are being depleted, pollution locally-made or imported on the jet stream fills our lungs.

The closeness of the wild world reminds us that we still have something to protect, even while we seek to build a viable economy. Can we effectively, sustainably, balance these two concerns?

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Local Living Economies and BALLE-Nova Scotia

BALLE Nova Scotia logo
BALLE Nova Scotia's logo

Here is an organization I’m proud and happy to have  joined – the Nova Scotia chapter of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies.

Which makes me wonder, as a web designer, what is my contribution to a local, sustainable green economy?

Hmm… well, there’s the commute. Most of the time, I just head downstairs to my home office. No greenhouse gasses are generated. As the downstairs is heated with a radiant floor, it’s the warmest part of the house in winter.   So that’s very efficient, but doesn’t quite qualify me as a green business – at least not until we get the planned solar panels up on the roof!

More to the point, however, my clients tend to be folks who operate independent, small (often micro) Nova Scotian businesses.  They live and work here by choice, as do many Nova Scotians.  It’s not always an easy choice.  By running a successful business, however, they are helping others to live and work here as well.  I’m happy to be part of that, and strive to contribute to their success.   Some are in tourism, some are artists and craftspeople, some are lawyers and some are builders of log and timber frame homes.

Arlington Frame Co.
Arlington Frame Company raising a timber frame in Cape Breton

The timber framers in particular are quite aware that they add value to the forest simply by using wood for something more enduring than pulp fibre.  Hardwoods such as oak and elm are prized by builders and their clients, as are large softwood trees such as pine.  The companies that drive the clearcutting of the forests would rather eliminate the hardwoods with herbicides and harvest the faster-growing softwood trees for pulp.

Timber frame homes are built to last a long time.  Their interiors are a celebration of the beauty of wood and craftsmanship.  They are usually enclosed with energy-efficient materials.  So they provide enduring value on many levels and make a solid contribution to the local living economy.

A visit to the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry in Stellarton made me realize how self-sufficient Nova Scotia used to be, from the growing of food to the manufacture of automobiles!  It is a direction we need to move towards again.  The reasons are both environmental and economic.  A secure, local food supply and lower greenhouse gas emissions are part of it.  And by supporting local businesses, we keep more money circulating in the local economy, and we all benefit.

So kudos to the people who started up BALLE-Nova Scotia for getting the balle rolling!