The future of Port Burwell Revisited May 2008

Some time has passed since I last wrote on the future of Port Burwell so I thought that it would be appropriate to bring things up again in light of the rising cost of energy.

Now that fuel prices are rising (surprise, surprise) the driving from Port Burwell to say Tilsonburg for work or shopping is just costing too much. So most people will face the inevitability of moving closer to their place of work, shopping etc which means that those of working age will also take their children out of the Port Burwell school. The school enrolment will go down which will eventually mean closing the school. Despite the very fine hardware in town ( which was just sold) people still drive to Tilsonburg for hardware... of course they save a few cents?? If we do not support the well stocked hardware store it too will disappear and with less people here.. guess what, that too will go.

I do not know if anyone else has noted but there are at least 5 commercial building for sale in the commercial area of Port Burwell. This should ring an alarm bell!

The Harbour has all but filled in and I'm sure that in August the channel will no longer be navigable by the smallest motorboat and the cry for dredging the harbour will abate once the reality of the initial and continuing costs becomes apparent. There will just be no income stream to support the dredging. I do not know if anyone realizes this but even if the federal government pays for it, the money actually comes out of our own pockets in the end.

There is a very simple answer to this preventable problem of people leaving Port Burwell. If there was employment that people could walk to work, then most everything would be solved.

The best solution for creating employment in Port Burwell would be to allow limited light industry. Since a number of home workshops exist but they live in fear of the stepping over the commercial use limits they could easily be granted some meaningful legitimacy. But this may not go over well with the politicians who rely on the voting public. So Port Burwell will continue to depopulate. House prices will fall.

There is also no allowance for a small commercial vegetable farmer in Port Burwell. How handy it would be to walk down to the corner and purchase fresh vegetables grown in Port burwell but no we need to drive to Tilsonburg for fresh produce imported from the USA or south America shipped in daily!! That does not make any sense to me when we could grow it at our doorstep!

We live an an agricultural area so we need to base our industry on farming. It could mean oil expelling for use as vegetable oils for use in food and making biodiesel for fuel not only for tractors, transportation but also for heating our homes. It could be woodworking, canoe building, a small canning factory, a cabinet making shop etc. In short things that people will need and use.

And money is not necessarily the way to pay for things. I already barter and for those with time on their hands and little money. It helps me it helps them.

As David Susuzki said “We are all in car heading towards a brick wall at 100 mph and no-one has thought of looking and finding a brake.” Enjoy the ride!

Mat Redsell has a web site for sustainable living at <www.continuo.com>