“That’s his favourite horse.”A dairy cow somewhere in Alberta tests positive for BSE, and word travels across North American in seconds.
An earthquake near Sumatra causes a tsunami that takes one to six hours to reach various points of landfall, and hundreds of thousands of people are caught completely and tragically unawares.
Such is the difference between communication available in various parts of the world; communication that North Americans take for granted and those in many other countries cannot fathom.
How could a phenomenon the size and scope of the Dec. 26 tsunami, which has extracted a death toll in excess of 140,000 people, come without warning? Why did so few have the chance to seek safety before the ocean crashed in?
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Kochia has become a significant problem for Prairie farmers
As you travel through southern Saskatchewan and Alberta, particularly in areas challenged by dry growing conditions, the magnitude of the kochia problem is easy to see.
It happened all too easily in countries without a predesigned warning system, without the North American saturation of telephones, cell phones, instant messaging, television, cable, satellite transmissions, blogs and other marvels of the worldwide web.
How sadly ironic that now, as the relief effort begins and the media concentrate their formidable powers on reporting about the tragedy, we can get up-to-the-minute news on the death toll, the missing, the destruction, the heroism and the grief.
We are even given the opportunity to swallow our revulsion, if we possibly can, over photos of North American tourists relentlessly pursuing suntans while locals in Thailand doggedly search the wreckage for the bodies of their friends and relatives.
Fortunately, to preserve our faith in mankind, we also learn of heroic relief efforts, tourists helping with rescue and recovery, and the donations and aid offered by other countries, Canada among them, to help our fellow men through this darkest of times.
Technology was of no use to those in the path of the tsunami, yet technology now enables the rest of the world to mobilize aid and allows individuals to send donations on-line within seconds.
What a strange world we live in, full of dichotomies and ironies. Agricultural events of import take temporary pause as we digest events half a world away.
Today we bring you news of the pending U.S. border opening to Canadian cattle, the new BSE case and the resolution of a wheat board election. Technology and superior communication make it possible.
If only the resources we take for granted were available to those in Indonesia and Sri Lanka and Thailand, how differently 2004 might have ended.
As we look ahead, we choose to do it with optimism for a better year ahead.
