Hanna fearful of 'ghost town' future as Alberta quits coal

I remember that highway as a kid where there were little towns every 10 or 15 miles apart. Consisting of a couple of stores, a community hall, a grain elevator and maybe a dozen houses. Once the CPR decided they were no longer going to collect grain at each of these towns, the elevators were torn down and the towns disappeared and were over run with tumbleweeds, now you can't tell where any of these places were.

My god, that's where Lanny's from.

Also, all the buggy whip manufacturing centers have disappeared. The horror.

It puts a human face on a sad situation which is important. It's not enough though to stop a trend that's been building for a long time. Half of the war against emissions would be won just by putting a stop to coal use alone. It's abundance and relative cheapness are no longer considerations. It has to be done and a couple of decades from now, if not sooner, it'll be seen as wise as taking lead additives out of gasoline and the only question asked about it will be "why the hell did it take you so long?".

Through that town on a regular basis. It shrinks a little bit more every time. That said, it won't die completely. Like Oyen down the road and Castor up the road, it's at a crossroad of two major highways. That, along with farm industry, will see Hanna settle around the 1000-1500 mark the way the other two towns have. If they luck out, maybe the province will build some windmills south of town.

Where's Thanos and what have you done with him?

Where's Thanos and what have you done with him?

Seems like everyone is doing the opposite of what they should be recently. Must be back in the Star Trek Mirror Universe or some dumb shit like that.

Spent some time with friends in the Crowsnest, visited all the old coal mine museums.
That place must've been like living in Hell when those mines were in full swing!
And the coal trains running to Rupert - you should see the natives waiting for it to go by, standing so close to the tracks their noses are nearly scraping the train as it goes by in a cloud of black... ikkk.

But the safe injection sites haven't. So, which came first the chicken or the egg. The loss of jobs and hope or the drug use epidemic?

Don't get me wrong though because, I do understand that the use of coal as a fuel is on it's way out but the fact remains that people of all political and environmental bents seem to forget the human impact that our rush to "green" energy is having and going to have on peoples lives.

So, before these governments start shit caning everything that they say contributes to climate change they'd better come up with a detailed list of how they plan on helping transition the influx of environmental refugees we're going to see because if they don't there'll be even more broken families, homeless people, alcohol and drug addictions, than we already have.

There are lots of little towns like this, that used to be big towns. Thorchild, Grand Cache . . . just off the top of my head.

Interesting article on the UK coal mining industry.

http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/6498/ ... -industry/

There are lots of little towns like this, that used to be big towns. Thorchild, Grand Cache . . . just off the top of my head.

Starting to think that the real future for these towns, provided they're within a reasonable distance to the cities for shopping, hospital services, etc. is for them to re-brand themselves as place where those who are sick and tired of the city life can relocate to for peace and quiet. Not necessarily retirement, just to get away from all the crime, traffic, and all the other crap for people who are still working. I took a look yesterday at the realty pages for Hanna. There's some pretty awesome full-sized rebuilt and modernized houses there for less than $250K. In Edmonton they'd be at least $400K and in Calgary around $500K. Before my life was shattered over the last couple of years this is what I was thinking of doing for myself, to get the hell out of the city where everything's getting stupider with every passing day and going to a place where you don't have to listen to traffic driving by all night long.

There are lots of little towns like this, that used to be big towns. Thorchild, Grand Cache . . . just off the top of my head.

Starting to think that the real future for these towns, provided they're within a reasonable distance to the cities for shopping, hospital services, etc. is for them to re-brand themselves as place where those who are sick and tired of the city life can relocate to for peace and quiet. Not necessarily retirement, just to get away from all the crime, traffic, and all the other crap for people who are still working. I took a look yesterday at the realty pages for Hanna. There's some pretty awesome full-sized rebuilt and modernized houses there for less than $250K. In Edmonton they'd be at least $400K and in Calgary around $500K. Before my life was shattered over the last couple of years this is what I was thinking of doing for myself, to get the hell out of the city where everything's getting stupider with every passing day and going to a place where you don't have to listen to traffic driving by all night long.

Small towns are great for shift workers for this reason. Never have to deal with bullshit.

Small town girls are way more interesting to interact with as well. Most have a good head on their shoulders.

Yeah that's for sure. Remember one in particular, she had the whitest teeth I'd come across!

I'm trying to sell my place right now, and I'm thinking the same thing. Either moving closer to the city to take advantage of transit, or moving a little farther away to get away from the craziness. There are a couple nice small towns (pop: 1000 - 3000) that are only 10 minutes more highway travel than I have now, and prices are pretty good.

I like having lots of open space around me, the hawks in the sky eating the neighbours poodles and coyotes eating their cats. What I don't like is having to maintain my own water purification and sewage systems. And heating my place in the winter with propane. I could do without that headache too.