The Triple Bottom Line - a Porpoise-Driven Life

I am now back from Red Deer, having survived a few days with about 200 Albertan civic planners. It's great to be back home with Krista, but I am totally exhausted from the conference. The one cool thing was the underground discussion of the proposed high speed rail electric link between Calgary and Edmonton (known in planning circles as the "Metro Adjacent.") A prof. from the University of Toronto gave a compelling presentation that all our plans should take into account that gas at the pump could well be four bucks a litre across North America within ten years... which will push the rail agenda. It'll be a new golden railroad age. But I'm thinking we should do this now in Alberta. He projected initial capital costs of around 8 billion dollars. We could have totally paid for it with last year's surplus! And, worldwide, these railines post profits within two to three years!

Talk about jargon, though... these planners have raised it to a fine art. I spent most of the time just savouring the insider-speak. For instance, there was incessant yakking about the "triple bottom line" - a sustainability model that attempts to address environmental, social, and economic factors. But hey, these are people that refer to roads as "arterials."

And, since you all so clearly enjoyed my last post about a self-improvement classic, I thought I'd also mention this one... that Victoria mentioned. I think it'd probably be a lot more compelling than the original (which I just can't seem to make the time for).