[DM] Some links: longevity, real estate, migrations, the future (#demographymatters, #demographics, #population)

I have a links post up at Demography Matters.

• Old age popped up as a topic in my feed. The Crux considered when human societies began to accumulate large numbers of aged people. Would there have been octogenarians in any Stone Age cultures, for instance? Information is Beautiful, meanwhile, shares an informative infographic analyzing the factors that go into extending one’s life expectancy.
• Growing populations in cities, and real estate markets hostile even to established residents, are a concern of mine in Toronto. They are shared globally: The Malta Independent examined some months ago how strong growth in the labour supply and tourism, along with capital inflows, have driven up property prices in Malta. Marginal Revolution noted there are conflicts between NIMBYism, between opposing development in established neighbourhoods, and supporting open immigration policies.
• Ethnic migrations also appeared. The Cape Breton Post shared a fascinating report about the history of the Jewish community of industrial Cape Breton, in Nova Scotia, while the Guardian of Charlottetown reports the reunification of a family of Syrian refugees on Prince Edward Island. In Eurasia, meanwhile, Window on Eurasia noted the growth of the Volga Tatar population of Moscow, something hidden by the high degree of assimilation of many of its members.
• Looking towards the future, Marginal Revolution’s Tyler Cowen was critical of the idea of limiting the number of children one has in a time of climate change. On a related theme, his co-blogger Alex Tabarrok highlights a new paper aiming to predict the future, one that argues that the greatest economic gains will eventually accrue to the densest populations. Established high-income regions, it warns, could lose out if they keep out migrants.

[ISL] Five #islands links: Wolfe Island, Cape Breton, Sable Island, Mayreau, Malta

• The people of Wolfe Island are upset at cutbacks in ferry trips to and from their island. Global News reports.
• The Cape Breton Post shares a fascinating report about the history of the Jewish community of industrial Cape Breton.
• Sable Island, in the Atlantic off of the Nova Scotia coast, is going to enjoy a clean-up. Global News reports.
• The Inter Press Service notes how global warming-accelerated erosion threatens to split the Caribbean island of Mayreau into two.
• The Malta Independent examined some months ago how strong growth in the labour supply and tourism, along with capital inflows, have driven up property prices in Malta.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Montréal, Saint John, Sydney, New York City, Katowice

• La Presse notes that reconstruction work planned for Montréal’s Saint-Sulpice library has been delayed by a shortage of workers, given the wider city’s construction boom.
• CBC notes how the Halifax Explosion led to the Oland family building the Moosehead Brewery in Saint John.
• The closure of Sydney-based call centre Servicom has left six hundred people unemployed just before Christmas. CBC reports.
• Gothamist warns people in New York City which bars to avoid during this weekend’s Santacon.
• Politico Europe notes how, in the Polish city of Katowice at the heart of Upper Silesia, even there coal is falling out of the mix as a major employer.

[URBAN NOTE] Five city links: Hamilton, Halifax, Sydney, Kiruna, Kigali

• CBC Hamilton reports on patterns of misconduct by members of armed forces units in the Hamilton, Ontario, area.
• That the Cape Breton Post, main newspaper of that island, may now be printed in Halifax says much about that city’s growing dominance of Nova Scotia (and, too, of Cape Breton’s decline). CBC reports.
• Building a new library on the waterfront of Sydney, in Cape Breton, might well anchor a wider revitalization of that city. CBC reports.
• Guardian Cities shares the story of how the Swedish iron ore-mining town of Kiruna, facing subsidence, is literally moving kilometres away.
• The Inter Press Services notes that the Rwandan capital of Kigali will have a downtown ecotourism park.

[NEWS] Five science links: oceans, global warming, stars, Milky Way Galaxy, Sagittarius A*

• CBC notes that a cold-water reef off of Cape Breton ravaged by fishing is showing signs of recovery.
• Motherboard reports a study suggesting that the oceans have absorbed much more heat than previously thought, suggesting the margins to avoid climate change are thinner than imagined.
• Paul M. Sutter at Universe Today notes how scarily large and massive blue giant stars can unlock key mysteries about stellar evolution.
• Motherboard notes the latest, strong evidence for Sagittarius A* at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy actually being a black hole.
• Phys.org notes a new study suggesting that the inner core of the Milky Way Galaxy was formed by an ancient collision with a dwarf galaxy 10 billion years ago.

[NEWS] Five LGBTQ links: crime, Church and Wellesley, politics, Cape Breton, flannel

• The vigil that Toronto’s Metropolitan Community Church is holding tonight for the victims of the Church and Wellesley serial killer sounds necessary, meaningful. CBC reports.
• Vjosa Isai reported yesterday about a string of unsolved murders committed against gay men in the late 1970s in Toronto. I’m impressed; this is the first time I’ve come across mention of these victims since I read their names in digitized copies of the Body Politic. The article is at the Toronto Star.
• The confidence of John Ibbitson that Church and Wellesley’s LGBTQ identity will remain fixed is bracing. The Globe and Mail has it.
• The refusal of Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor Cecil Clarke to accept being blackmailed and to instead come it is good news, an item that made international headlines, for instance at Queerty.
• Is flannel tired as a lesbian signifier? I wonder. Thoughts? VICE starts a discussion.

[ISL] Five islands links: Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Fiji

• I found, from somewhere in the blogosphere, a 1982 essay by June Jordan, “Report from the Bahamas.” How can solidarity and identity be established across great distances, geographic and otherwise, in a globalized world?
• This analysis by Lyman Stone of the impact of Hurricane Maria on the already dire demographics of Puerto Rico is worth reading. Population decline will be at least as sharp as in Ireland and Corsica.
• Will making Cape Breton a province separate from Nova Scotia, as suggested by independent senator Dan Christmas, do anything to stop the island’s sharp decline? The Cape Breton Post reports.
• Climate change and sea level rise may effectively make mainland Nova Scotia an island, cutting the dike-protected roads on the Isthmus of Chignecto. VICE reports.
• Fiji is preparing for an influx of climate change refugees from other, lower-lying and poorer, island nations in the Pacific. Bloomberg reports.

[NEWS] Seven French Canada links, from Louisbourg to Québec islands to politics to economics

• The Globe and Mail describes a salvage archaeology operation in Cape Breton, on the receding shores of Louisbourg at Rochefort Point.
• Katie Ingram at MacLean’s notes the hostile reaction in Atlantic Canada to the consolidation of artifacts in a Québec facility.
• The National Observer reports on how Québec has effectively banned the oil and gas industry from operating on Anticosti Island.
• This La Presse article talks about letting, or not, the distant Iles-de-la-Madeleine keep their own Québec electoral riding notwithstanding their small population.
• Will the Bloc Québécois go the way of the Créditistes and other Québec regional protest movements? Éric Grenier considers at CBC.
• The National Post describes the remarkable improvement of the Québec economy in recent years, in absolute and relative terms. Québec a have?
• Francine Pelletier argues Québec fears for the future have to do with a sense of particular vulnerability.

[DM] “On the ongoing depopulation of Cape Breton”

At Demography Matters, I blog about the ongoing and inevitable depopulation of Cape Breton.

[ISL] On the effort of Farmer’s Daughter to recruit people to live in Cape Breton

CBC News’ Jennifer MacMillan reported about a Cape Breton company, The Farmer’s Daughter Country Market, that has gained quite a lot of attention with its offer of free land and a job to Canadians willing to relocate to work there.

A family-run business is trying a unique approach to recruit people to live and work year-round in rural Cape Breton by offering two free acres of land to people who are willing to relocate.

Farmer’s Daughter is a general store and bakery in Whycocomagh, N.S., which has a population of about 800. Sisters Sandee MacLean and Heather Coulombe took over the business earlier this year from their dairy farmer parents, who started it nearly 25 years ago.

MacLean told CBC News that the store has great employees — but it needs more of them to expand their operations.

[. . .]

The business would like to increase the number of year-round employees from 12 to at least 15, but hasn’t gotten much response to traditional “help wanted” ads. Many young people have left the community to work in places like Halifax or Alberta.

MacLean and Coulombe came up with the idea of offering two free acres of land to people who are willing to relocate to Whycocomagh.

CTV News also carried the news, among others.

CBC News’ notes that MacLean, for one, is trying to reverse Cape Breton’s steady depopulation, as people head out to wealthier destinations elsewhere.

MacLean says she thinks it’s great Cape Breton is growing as a tourism destination, but worries about what would happen if it’s only inhabited by summertime tourists in the future.

“It won’t be populated by Cape Bretoners — meaning people who want to live here all the time and continue the culture, the music, the lifestyle.”

Is this goal achievable? I honestly have my doubts. I do compliment the owners for trying. Perhaps, if enough people try, something noteworthy might happen?