Today, Heather and I walked around First Lake, part of the water supply for Annapolis Royal (AR). This is part of our growing resolution – to keep healthy, we must find a significant walk every day. There was no-one on the trail. It is well-marked with flagging tape. There was a slight dusting of overnight snow. Afterwards, we stopped for a coffee at the Sissiboo Cafe on the Main Street of AR.
Between the endless election coverage, I have noticed the CHIP advertisements with Peter Mansbridge on the CBC. Mansbridge notes the stereotype of the retired segment of the population.
This strikes a chord with me. Since my retirement from the NSCC Annapolis campus (AGRG) I have continued to write a regular blog ( ernestblairexperiment.wordpress.com ). These blogs give a window on retirement living in rural Nova Scotia. I have made significant effort to engage instructors and students at the Centre of Geographic Sciences. I have worked with other retired faculty in an attempt to engage this segment of the population e.g. Edward Wedler, John Wightman. Each week, I forward my blog to over thirty associates from my previous working life in the county.
If Annapolis County is going to flourish into the future it is critical that the local population work together to promote the natural resources and human resources of this part of the province.
With a network of NSCC campuses, it can spread across Nova Scotia.
In particular,we must use modern technology to share current information on our landscape, our resources, our industry, our people.
My proposal is simple. We need to work together to present ‘the geography of Annapolis County’. We need to understand the landscape: geology, ecology, climate. We need to understand our resources: agriculture, fishing, forestry, mining. We need to understand our demographics. We need to use the latest technology to share images, links, research results. We need to join the ‘creative rural economy’.
If you are reading this blog, please imagine ‘ how we can join the dots’ ,’how we can empower all members of society’.
Please forward your questions and ideas. I will gladly share these findings. It could be a ‘story-map’. Together, we will enhance Annapolis County, the Annapolis Valley, rural society, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Postscript
This week, I am encouraged to see locally a talk on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Heather Leblanc on the findings of MapAnnapolis, and the availability of live music at the Evergreen Theatre.
I have shared this draft with Edward Wedler. He has asked for a rewrite on my expectations from the NSCC. My expectations are that the educational institutions treat the needs of the community seriously.
They have showed initiative with the formation of CORAH ( Center of Rural Aging and Health). They need to recognize that the new Geographic Science and Technology can address our ‘sense of place’, leading to experiential tourism and other economic opportunities.
Ernest Blair Experiment 
NSCCs need to do a re-think and a re-structure to work collaboratively with communities in which they reside. Real opportunities for students, instructors, residents and businesses exist with closer ties. I think of how our libraries have morphed over time to mean more than just borrowing books. I can now take cooking classes, borrow musical instruments and sports equipment, attend lectures, print documents, etc.
Take COGS as an example
If the community wants to truly “shop local”, to buy from the people that actually grow our food, to buy at the farm gate, where do people go? Who’s growing what, where and when? This is something COGS can work on with AGRG and local farmers. Bob and I worked on a Farm2G8 food idea some years ago, linking farmers and buyers through an App.
An orchard in the Valley has an outbreak of some infestation. Map the outbreak spread, timing, character, etc. COGS can work with AGRG, local farmers and AG researchers on this.
Community members want to know how to access and use data held by government, such as the NS Lidar dataset. They want to learn to be licensed drone operators. They want more than an annual NSCC Open House.
You get the idea. Morph the NSCCs to create opportunities for all
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