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Page 5, News, Wednesday, August 21, 1991 In search of a new Energy Did you ever wonder what makes the world go round? I mean, what powers the diverse technical world we live in? From airplanes and automobiles to toasters and Teenage Mutant Ninja tur- tle figurines. If you take everything we have. and seek out a common denomi- nator that makes it all possible, the answer would be energy. Without ener- gy, and abundant supplies of it, our world and way of life would grind to a screeching halt within a matter of sec- onds (perhaps, as some would indicate, it would be much for the better). Almost every manufactured object that we possess requires energy. All of our computers, phones, televisions, cars and homes (the staples of the Western world) require energy. Actually, we are now so dependent on energy that all anyone would have to do to severely cripple our modem society would be to destroy the Gulf oil fields (hmm. . . that sounds familiar). Well, a more likely scenario of our society's demise will be energy depletion. Current estimates project that the world's current fossil fuel supply will only last approximately another 60 to 100 years at the current rate of consumption. These are not alarmist projections but projections done by the oil companies themselves. Inmagine, in sixty years, the world's energy resources could be run dry. Yet, every year, the consumption rates might be a bit of panic or at least a slight sense of anxiety about this para- dox. Of course, I've not even men- tioned the vicious assault that the pollu- tion from this energy utilization has made on our environment. With the current trend of ecological damage caused by fuel exhaust, in sixty years, our planet may be uninhabitable. Per- haps that's rent administration attitude is "Let's burn it up, the future will take care of itself!" Stupid? Yes, of course, but remember where it's coming from. However, we can't let our politicians shoulder all the blame (they have enough as it is!). A problem of this magnitude is the responsibility of the world community and their track record hasn't been why people i i much better. aren't too Chris Reid Remember worried. = the most Fortu- The Treadm i [| recent fiasco nately, the in the Persian average per- Gulf. During son has enough common sense to real- ize that we can't go on the way we have been. The problem is that few people realize that the longer we procrastinate, the more irreversible our energy prob- lem becomes. Heaven knows that in this country we can' count on our enlightened leaders to provide any solu- tions. In Canada, a politician's fore- sight goes as far as the next election. A logical course of action seems to be to conduct research into the alternative energy field (you remember. . . hydro- gen fuel, solar energy, wind power, etc) and find a non-polluting renewable energy source that will fulfill our needs. Unfortunately, Canada spends one of the lowest amounts on any kind of research out of all the western devel- oped countries. It seems that the cur- this episode, the world rallied around George Bush and his Patriot missiles to save the world from an evil tyrant bent on subjecting a humble and innocent people to his cruel and capricious will. Give me a break. It was about oil, for oil and because of oil. The fact that the coalition gave the idiot Saddam a slap in the head is nice, but if he'd invaded some backward, poor third world nation instead of oil rich Kuwait, we would have heard nary a word. The thing that disturbs me the most is that if all the billions of dollars and technological wizardry that was used on Desert Storm went into energy research, we would have probably found a viable alterna- tive source and wouldn't have to worry about megalomanic Arabs again. So, just why hasn't the world come up with a reasonable substitute for fos- sil fuels yet. I mean, how hard can it be? Internal combustion engines that run on clean burning and renewable hydrogen? A super long lasting batter cell? We always hear now and again how close they are to developing these things. Well, where are they? I mean, we've put a man on the moon, we've got super computers and super conductors, we can even listen to the late Nat King Cole sing a duet with his daughter, so why can't we come up with an alterna- tive form of energy. Well, if I might hazard a guess, I'd say it probably has something to do with the fact that oil business is worth more money that you and I can count to. Imagine small Joe scientist discovers a means to fulfill the world's energy needs with an inexpen- sive, renewable resource. I doubt that Exxon, B.P., Gulf and the others are just going to roll over and die. There are two kinds of successful renewable ener- gy scientists. . . the kind that's given up research and counting his money is his South American villa and the kind that's counting fishes at the bottom of an anonymous lake while wearing cement galoshes. The deck is stacked against those of us who wish to leave a clean sustain- able world for our children. Not only do we have to convince the powers that be that it is a goal we must actively pur- continued on page 13 increase. One would think that there Shedding the golden handcufts Bob Chondon and Al Jones, both of Thunder Bay, are caught in the middle. The brothers-in-law are two of the 400 people laid off by the mothballing of Abitibi Price's Thunder Bay division mill. Their union, the Canadian Paper- workers, has rejected the company's last severance package because a sweetened severance package for the Thunder Bay division employees was coupled to also accepting concessions at the company's other mills. Bob says "the union's try- ing to get a feather in their cap by say- ing 'look what we did for the Abitibi- Price boys', but they're dragging it out." So Bob and Al and the other 400 are caught in the middle of a company- union standoff. Bob and Al are also caught in the vortex of a major societal transforma- tion. The Canadian economy, particu- larly in northern Ontario, is painfully moving from an industrial to a post industrial or an "information age" econ- omy. Bob and Al are forced to jump straight from the industrial jobs they held for more than a decade and a half each to a new world that's evolving under their feet. Al says he never liked working at his old job, but it was a comfortable exis- tence. "I hated the place from the minute I stepped in 'till the moment I was kicked out. I hated it - hot, noisy. The only thing good about it was the people we worked with. I was a paper maker. I started off on the low job - j sixth hand - and worked up to relief machine tender and back tender, but as for working for someplace that I liked or anything, no, that was no loss to me." "But as much as I hated the place, when we were on 12 hour shifts, I had four days on, four days off, and when you took a couple of floaters (extra days off) you're hardly working at all. The money was good. It raised a fami- ly, put my oldest daughter through Lakehead University, and it paid off my Treasurer right up to union president for five years. In 1979, in conjunction with my union work, I joined the credit union movement. And since then, I've been on the board of directors." Al didn't get involved in the commu- nity like Bob did while at the mill, but he's landed on his feet nonetheless, since being laid off March 31st. The two have spent a lot of time researching various business opportunities, espe- cially franchises. They've studied a house. --_ NORTHERN een: a INSIGHTS. ape Sociolo- by Larry Sanders Baskins & gists say Robins' Ice people like Al and Bob were wearing "golden handcuffs" until they were laid off. The "golden" part comes from the fact that, like Al says, the money was very good. The work was awful, but the pay was high enough and the time off frequent enough that he didn't look around for alternatives. But Bob and Al were "handcuffed" nonetheless - lulled into believing that their jobs would always be there until they retired, so they didn't need to worry about anything except their next shift or their next holiday. I explained the concept of "golden handcuffs" to Bob and Al, and they knew exactly what I meant. Bob says, "I knew that if I was to focus on just my job and have the golden handcuffs on, my brain would go dormant. So I got involved with unions. I went from Cream and Subway sandwich shops, before settling on their first choice; on- premise custom beer brewing. Al's eyes sparkle when he starts to talk about it. Bob's enthusiasm is con- tagious. The two of them have found something that really seems to make sense, the more they research it. In their store, to be called The Brewing Experience, a customer will be able to pick from one of 80 brewing recipes, buy all the ingredients, and then brew their own beer, right in the store. Instead of brewing your own beer at home with all the mess and hassle, you use the store's space and expertise. The Brewing Experience started two years ago in Guelph. Franchises have since opened in Toronto, Ottawa and Comwall. Bob and Al have sunk their severance pay into buying the licence for Thunder Bay. Bob thinks the mar- ket is ready for it. "The average beer consumption in Ontario is 88 litres a year. In the Thunder Bay district, Marathon to the Manitoba border, it's two and half times that. Now if that isn't incentive enough, I don't know." By buying into a franchise, Bob and Al have side-stepped a lot of the usual problems connected with starting a new business; the franchise fee provides them with a model business plan to fol- low, advertising material and market- tested products. They've already closed the deal on a substantial bank loan and were about to close a deal fora lease on their new store when I interviewed them recently. I have no idea whether Bob and Al's Brewing Experience will succeed or fail. The point is that Bob and Al have shed their "golden handcuffs." They're not sitting around moping and waiting for Abitibi and the union to settle, or for someone to run up and offer them a job. They know their old paper making jobs are history. Besides, they didn't like those jobs anyways. They've now got a real opportuntiy. They're willing to risk their severance pay and set up a new business, using all the expertise and support they can find. Bob says, "We are part of a special group, and if we don't take advantage of it now, we'll never get that shot again. It's like a window opening. The win- dows open, so take advantage of it, continued on page 14