Resource Works Society was founded in 2014 as a non-profit organization dedicated to finding factual information about the resource sector and its economic contribution to the B.C. community.
“By resource sector, we’re talking about the whole spectrum,” says Barinder Rasode, Director of Social Development for the Resource Works Society. “It’s about oil, gas, LNG, agriculture; everything that comes from the earth and helps sustain our way of life.”
More often than not the community will read or hear anti-resource development sentiments that aren’t based in fact, Barinder asserts.
“Often opinions are voiced in the community without referencing credible research about how much the resource sector in B.C. is committed to the environment and environmental concerns, or what it will mean to our economy if we don’t have a thoughtful economic plan around development.”
Barinder likens the concept of sustainability to a three-legged bar stool.
“The three legs are environmental, social, and economic issues,” she explains. “If even just one of these legs is shorter than the others, then the stool tips. We can’t survive without the resource industry. It supplies many of the things we need and which we take for granted.”
Resource Works Society spends its time and money gathering facts based on research of the industry and its contribution to society. Barinder notes that we all wear clothes, use household appliances, own mobile phones, and rely on hospital equipment, all of which have come from resources that have been extracted and developed.
“Sadly, the dialogue out there now is so extreme and anti-resource development,” Barinder says, “that responsible resource companies have been vilified. This has caused project delays that are costing short-term economic development in the province and providing an economic barrier in the long-term. Companies are pulling back on investments in British Columbia because of arguments based on emotion, rather than facts.”
The aim of Barinder and her team at the Resource Works Society is to bring factual research to the conversation and promote the benefits of responsible resource development.
For more information on the Resource Works Society and their research, check out their website, call 778.588.9352, or email. Resource Works can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
