Growing Utopia

By ALISA GORDANEER
Mar 15 2006

Imagine for a minute that Vancouver Island was its own country. That if, through some outrageous revolution, we Islanders seceded from the rest of Canada. We’d kick out the provincial government, sending them back to their corporate headquarters in Vancouver, and forget about the whole fuss over B.C. Ferries fares.

Instead of spending gazillions of dollars on importing goods across the straits, we’d invest in sustainable local agriculture, manufacturing and services (plus one big newly legalized cash crop) so we could keep ourselves afloat despite whatever craziness was going on in the rest of the world.
Sure, it’s a utopian pipe dream. We’re never likely to have to rely on ourselves here on Vancouver Island, are we?

Then again, what if? What if we were suddenly cut off from the mainland by, say, an earthquake or other disaster? Not too likely? What if a more predictable thing happened—say, peak oil and the subsequent shortage of fuel to run those handy ferries? Starting to feel the ocean surrounding us yet?

It would be not unlike what happened to the island nation of Cuba after the United States cut ties with that country. Suddenly, people had to develop their own methods of farming, production and survival. What happened wasn’t always good: monocultures like tobacco and sugarcane sapped nutrients from the soil, making food farming difficult—and illustrating the value of crop diversity. Now, Cuba is looking for ways to develop a more sustainable agricultural system, one that will return some strength to an ill-nourished economy.

Monday’s WildSide columnist Briony Penn recently went to Cuba, looking for ways Vancouver Island can learn from that country’s efforts to survive—and almost thrive. As she reports in this week’s feature, there are many lessons to be learned, especially ones to do with sustainability and survival.
There may be thousands of miles between Cuba’s sunny shores and our rainy ones, but both places have the potential to be self-sustaining little paradises. Imagine. All it would take is a little utopian thinking, once in a while. M

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