10:01 p.m. - 2004-01-22
Blowin in The Wind
Gong Hoy Fat Choy!!!! Happy Chinese New Year - 4631. The Year of the Wood Monkey no less. The opportunity to create mischief - the fun kind - and chaos - physicists say out of chaos comes order -, or to get that monkey off my back? Which to choose? How about both.
I'm sitting here singing along with Etta and her gospel choir. Funny how some things never really leave one's memory, isn't it? Sunday school and school choirs both, I still remember the words decades later. Three cats are sitting on my monitor with absolutely bemused looks on their faces. Once in a while one will reach out and pat my face or put their nose up close trying to figure out the strange sounds coming from my mouth. Could be worse I suppose. They could all be hiding under the furniture or yowling in pain.
Housekeeping work today, dear diary. Talked to my supervisor last night, just tying up loose ends on the last contract. Good talk that. Submitted financial forms here and there by e-mail this afternoon. Called a law office suggested by the lecturer at yesterday's seminar too. What I heard yesterday told me I needed to learn more about certain regulations just coming into law. I checked out the firms' website before I called, just to get some idea of who I'd be dealing with. Specialists in document management and electronic records - well that fits. Some really good papers on their site that answered a lot of questions, then created a lot more.
Checked out the website of the airline that I'll be flying with in February, just to be certain I knew all the new features and rules there too. My aching head. I've already confirmed my hotel reservation - good thing. They'd put me on a smoking floor; that happened once before and was a major problem. One serious asthma attack can take me out of the game for two or three days - the full length of our training this time around. I've been chatting by email back and forth with the recruiter I've been dealing with for the past six months. Ottawa is his hometown and he offered to provide advice on where to go and what to see. That was kind of him to do.
Entered contests on several sites - who knows, can't win unless one is entered. The best part too, is that unlike lottery tickets there is no charge; just a little bit of time to fill in the required information.
Sad story in the news that illustrated a paradox emerging in public forums. A woman, who was a waitress all her life, is now dying of lung cancer from continuous exposure to second hand cigarette smoke. She was a non-smoker all her life. She has decided to spend the last days of her life campaigning for stronger health and safety laws to protect workers in their work environments. Seems logical doesn't it. Courageous too.
Yet, at the same time, there is this subliminal message being delivered that tougher health and safety measures as well as environmental legislation costs a country money in terms of lost jobs and compliance requirements. Well yes, it does cost THE OLD system money. But, aside from the priceless value of one human's life, what is the cost to our society's health care systems for cancer and heart patients. It has been extensively documented that workplace conditions are major contributing factors to the development of those diseases. What about the loss of productivity to businesses for workers who are sick or dying. What about the increased costs to their insurance and benefits plans.
Environmental contamination? Well in the same newscast - a story out of Turner Valley, where some of the earliest development of the oil industry occurred in Alberta. Extraordinarily high frequencies of multiple sclerosis are occurring in residents at increasingly younger ages. Suspicion is now focussed on mercury contamination that is extensive from the gas plants. It could also be from other by-products accumulated in the soil and water over the past century. What is the cost to the community for their economic driver - is it worth it? Yes, there are losses in traditional jobs and income generated from those products. However, what is never factored in are all the new jobs created by the new environmental standards and the resulting cleanup required. A lot of those jobs would be available to workers without a great deal of training being required. With all the new technology and science invested in alternate sources of power, and yes a lot of the raw resources are well represented in this province, it isn't as though the energy industry will be lost. Instead it can be upgraded and enhanced. Transformed. The opportunity for much greater benefits distributed more evenly to more Canadians is the potential outcome from such action.
Oh wait - its that more evenly distributed benefits thing, isn't it? This is one of those issues where the media becomes the two edged sword. How it reports or profiles the plusses and minuses of such transformation, will play a key role in whether the transition to a healthier, more democratic and more prosperous economy will become possible. Wonder if they have the cojones to expose the old industrial revolution style companies for what they have become yet. Tough to say - their funding usually is dependent on those very companies' goodwill. Maybe the new environmental businesses will replace their old sources of income too. Who knows.
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