|
Local: The name of the game
Commentary by Jeff Burgar
for South Peace News
“What do you think,’’ I asked the lady in the office, “of calling High Prairie Cellulose City?’’
Without staring at the ceiling, looking at the floor, blinking an eye or missing a beat, she comes back with “Ewwwwwwww!!! Where the heck did you get something like that?’’
Now, the truth is I have taken a vow of confidentiality. I can’t name the source. Unless perhaps you grease my palms with silver. Since no silver was forthcoming from the nice lady, and she didn’t seem to care for the name either, I figured I might as well keep my mouth shut.
So, what does she find offensive about Cellulose City? Oh, wait. Maybe it was a blonde moment.
“I said,’’ looking her straight in the eye, “ ‘Cellulose City.’ Not Cellulite City!’’
“Oh, of course,’’ she replied, “what was I thinking? But it doesn’t sound very good no matter what it is.’’
Actually, it sounds darn good. Perhaps not so good it was snapped up years ago as a domain name. If you don’t know what a domain name is, well, there isn’t much point trying to convince you the importance of community branding.
We can try however. Community branding is along the lines of The Big Apple, The Big Easy, City of Light, City That Never Sleeps, Sin City, Big Windy, and many, many others.
So, Cellulose City?
Well, let’s flip over to another Alberta community, Drayton Valley. Drayton Valley a few years ago began branding itself as Home of the Bio-Mile. The idea was to build a bio-fuel, bio-mass, bio-anything industry in the community. Drayton’s mayor and other community boosters are pounding on doors, selling the Bio-Mile. The latest news is a hundred million dollar or so bio-fuel plant will locate in Drayton. Not bad, eh?
Cellulose City is thus aimed at capturing the hearts and minds of local people, and potential non-local investors, and impressing upon them the importance and value of our local wood fibre resources.
Cellulose is it’s renewable. Uses include textiles, plastics and some food products. It has potential as fuel feedstock. Down the road, cellulose may be part of new medicines to better fertilizers and other processes not even thought of yet.
Thirty years ago, local forest experts laughed when anybody suggested we try to find a use for aspen.
Even while the critics were laughing, Sweden and Norway were turning poplar trees into newsprint. Local visionaries sent a few tonnes of wood to Europe. That started the whole aspen revolution here in Canada. Today, as just one example, Alberta Newsprint in Whitecourt produces among the highest quality newsprint in the world.
Cellulose City? Skip the laughing. It’s not a bad idea at all.
< Previous
Home
Next >
|
