EKOS Communications, Inc.

Over lunch yesterday at a Thai restaurant in Vancouver, I engaged in a lively and friendly exchange with individuals closely tied with oil and gas and mining industries during which we touched on climate change, tarsands, fracking, pipelines, renewable energy, and the global economy. What disturbed me was the way they so easily promoted the benefits of these extractive activities without acknowledging or taking into account the known and unknown environmental and social threats posed by them. Yet, when I probed, they agreed that the situation was getting very grim, for both the global ecology and the global economy.

But what can be done about it? They challenged. The world needs more energy, and most especially the fuels of oil and gas. Non-renewable and heavy in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases though they are. Renewable energy capacity sufficient to completely substitute for fossil fuels is still several decades away. Canada must continue to exploit the tarsands and it needs to get the pipelines built and for the fracking to increase, they insisted.

I received word that some of you found the tone of my last blog "a bit off." The feedback prompted me to re-read it and I have to agree.

The tone seems to imply that EKOS Communications was solely about business. That is blatantly untrue. It arose from, and still does, a profound sense of life purpose to save the planet...our one and only home...oikos, as the Greeks called it.

As of Dec. 31st, EKOS Communications as an incorporated entity ceased to exist and returned to operating as a sole proprietorship. The change was motivated by a need to reduce overhead costs, since there has been little to no activity to drum up business and revenue since I took on the full-time gig with Ocean Networks Canada in the fall of 2009.

Quite frankly, I simply don't have the energy or drive when I get home at the end of the day nor on weekends to engage in more work. Don't get me wrong. I love my job. So much so that I pour 150 - 200% of myself into it. But I'm often exhausted after work and need time in which to replenish my reserves. The thought of having to sit down after supper to run a business as well makes me want to upchuck.

Perhaps, in time, this feeling of revulsion will pass. I don't know. So for now, I'm letting EKOS sleep.

June 11, 2010: As many of you know, seven months ago I took on a new challenge, that as Manager of Communications and Engagement with Ocean Networks Canada. This is a full-time gig for the next three - four years and possibly longer. As I've mentioned in a previous blog, the opportunity to work with VENUS and NEPTUNE Canada ocean observatories to advance ocean literacy among Canadians was just too great of an opportunity to pass up. However, it leaves precious little time for much in the after work hours, especially since I'm also still supervising a graduate student in the Masters of Environmental Education and Communication program at Royal Roads University.

Meanwhile, Starr has gone on maternity leave with the birth of a second child; she is not likely to be able to re-engage with EKOS Communications until the late fall or winter.

As a consequence, EKOS Communications has been pretty quiet for the past while and will likely remain so until the end of the year.