This week in New York we saw how a somewhat small adbusters campaign turned into a full blown protest echoing similar events recently happening elsewhere in both the Arab and Western world. Although not yet quite as destructive as the London riots this past summer, the Occupy Wall Street campaign managed to shut down the Brooklyn Bridge and led to over 700 arrests. Watch below:

The mood of Canada seems to be slightly more positive these days than that of our southern neighbors, with recent stats showing that the Canadian economy grew this summer while the U.S. seems to be stalling out yet again triggering fears of a “double dip recession”. Despite the positive economic news here, protests have now been planned in Toronto and other Canadian cities similar to those in the U.S..

The “Arab Spring” and this recent chain reaction of protests happening throughout The West are likely the result of many things. To say that they are a byproduct of “social media”, or “angry street kids” is to over-simplify a complex movement happening in various places around the world at the same time. One thing is clear, these are certainly transformative times.

The new volatility in the stock market, the recent political upheaval over American debt, and the realignment of political power in Canada in the last election have all shown that the new normal is to “expect the unexpected”. American writer Kurt Vonnegut said it well when he recently tweeted “History is merely a list of surprises. It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again.”

Newfoundlanders, going through a sort of confidence boost as of late, should feel somewhat removed from the angst seen in London, New York, or Toronto. However we need to look no further back than 1929 to see that crisis in the worlds financial centres can quickly and devastatingly affect life here on the island. Contemporary Newfoundland is even more interconnected within a complex global financial system than was the case during The Great Depression.

Living on an island should breed self-sufficiency, and for much of our history, it did. However throughout the second half of the 20th century Newfoundlanders eagerly joined in with an ever increasing international consumerist economy. Today, we rely on imports for virtually all of our food and the majority of everything else. For the past fifty years this system has brought a standard of life unimaginable for the first few hundred years of our history.

The recent renaissance of optimism here in this province has been seen as mostly positive and welcome after the downswings of the previous few decades. The general mood seems to be that we are in for at least twenty years of growth and many young people are planning their futures based on that projection. Many young workers and professionals are now considering mortgages, investments, and all of the things that have been seen as necessary to build a sustainable life since the end of the second world war.

Perhaps it is time to start thinking of sustainability in a more literal way. Growing your own food, making your house more energy independent, and relying less on imported goods are things that Newfoundlanders should be working on both on a personal and collective scale. Our ancestors did just that for hundreds of years but somehow today sustainability is seen as “progressive”…..go figure.

In an uncertain world, Newfoundlanders should be prepared for anything. Being completely dependent on goods are services that come from off the island has to be irresponsible on some level. Though the government has a role to play such as diversifying industry in the province outside of just oil (something rarely mentioned these days), the majority of the responsibility for self-sufficiency falls on regular people. Some might say thinking like this is paranoia, but that would be to ignore history, and plus it can’t hurt…. right??

Here are a few links to self-sustainable living and other related topics:

St. John’s Sustainable Living Guide

Newfoundland & Labrador Food Security Network

Live Rural Newfoundland & Labrador