Rick Shea's Page

From the Shuswap and Salmon Arm "Lakeshore News," January 18, 2008:

Dear Sir:

Peter Clarke claims, in your January 11th edition ("In support of big box stores") that "progress is inevitable."

Many past civilizations have fallen into what Ronald Wright calls the "progress trap." Their trail of successes has led inexorably and inevitably to catastrophic failure. Our own "progress" has led us to the point where we are rapidly consuming and destroying this… Continue

From the Salmon Arm Observer, January 11, 2008

Dear Sir:

The development boosters in Salmon Arm insist that “growth will occur” and that we “must plan for growth.”

In that vein, I would like to examine the maximum possible population size in Salmon Arm, given the current calls for more densification.

The surface area of Salmon Arm is apparently approximately 75 square kilometers, or approximately 29 square miles. Using a rough approximation that eve… Continue

Letter sent to the Salmon Arm Observer today:

Dear Sir:

In his November 14th opinion piece in the Salmon Arm Observer, Ian Wickett makes many astounding and patently false claims about the supposed beneficial effects of "smart" growth. Every one of his claims about smart growth has already been refuted in theory and in practice by many, many examples around this planet, but I'd like to zero in on his claim that "Smart Growth principles foster the concept of neighbourhoods… Continue

Many people in Kelowna, British Columbia, seem to think that growth is inevitable, unstoppable, and perpetual, so I thought it would be useful to see if there really is some limit to the number of people here.

Let's start with some of the numbers.

Kelowna has a land area of approximately 82 square miles, or 2286028800 square feet.

The elevation of Kelowna is approximately 1130 feet.

The average person is, to approximate for the sake of argument, 6 feet… Continue

What’s up with the economy?

We keep hearing “you can’t do this, you can’t do that” because it might hurt the economy. We can’t live up to Kyoto because it might hurt our economy. We can’t stop population growth because it might hurt the economy. Grow or die. The economy constantly seems to teeter on the brink of illness, and even one small act can put it to bed with a high white cell count and a thermometer, waiting feverishly for the Doctors of economics to make a house call.…
Continue