Lenin once said that people vote with their feet. If that is the case, I'll add that our elected representatives need to know what "darning" means.
Anti-globalization protesters the world over will soon be left without a cause - globalization is about to leave the stage of its own accord. While denouncing the homogenization of humanity, inequality, and the loss of unique cultures, they have been beaten, trampled over, given evil-sounding names, from "despicable hooligans" to "ruthless terrorists." I call them "visionaries," and it's just that when you are not hunched over - back, neck and shoulders bent to the ground by the ballast weight of financial wealth - you can stand tall and straight, and you get to see a lot further.
Taking the fight off the anti-globalization protesters' hands, triple-digit oil prices enter the stage and are here to stay, our big, wide world already shrinking thanks to them. Grateful may not be exactly the way we feel right now, but localization has got numerous charms, there's no doubting that.
No need to kid ourselves - we are not running out of oil; it's only the cheap stuff that's gone, never to return. But if you ask me, the party is far from over. On the contrary, it is about to start, and we are all on the guest list. Champions like the local Climate Action Network are simply entertaining themselves with the decorations, just so at least we look minimally prepared for the fireworks display.
How can we possibly celebrate a not-too-distant future when gasoline may cost as much as $2 per litre, you may wonder? Well, in a place like Squamish, we'll stop fretting over the highway. Perhaps we will regret not having spent the money on the railway in preparation for 2010, but it's never too late. Precious dollars will be poured over transport alternatives and, like in the good old days, we'll make use of our waterways.
High freight and shipping costs will bring the factories back home - aren't jobs what we are clamouring for? And many of the goods will be produced by ourselves for ourselves, which means better quality and products suited to our local tastes.
Our neighbourhoods will become walkable hubs of activity. Here's the end to the endless meetings spent figuring out ways to save our downtown from inevitable doom and gloom - rejuvenation of our community's core will no longer be a trend, but the unavoidable norm.
Even the quality of our food will go up a notch or two. Many are already sharpening the old hoe - Squamish will finally make it to the map as an agricultural node! And if in the next couple of years we are still blinded by fear, choose to live in denial, and make the mistake of building multi-storey parkades No biggie! They will make wonderful farmscrapers, capable of growing romaine lettuce very conveniently, even without the need for controlled temperatures.
But the best things about our new small world will surely be the rediscovery of creativity and the reassessment of our values - when things break, we'll endeavour to fix them first, and when we finally head to the store to buy something new, we'll choose function over looks. Handymen will be more popular than ever before, and we will trade skills with family, friends even foes! We'll reacquaint ourselves with our neighbours and, simple as it may be, this will make our streets much better places to live.
Still think we have nothing to celebrate? There are many silver linings to what right now could look like a very dark cloud. I may have to drink B.C. instead of Spanish wine but, otherwise, I have no doubts about it, this is going to be one big, memorable party. Just make sure that you always have needle and thread in your sewing box - this is the time when we learn to go (or dance!) that extra mile in the same pair of socks.
This column was inspired by the very enlightening book "Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller" (Jeff Rubin, Random House, 2009).
