Diversification documentary a warning

THE EDITOR: I was very pleased with the Newsday article about the documentary on economic diversification, called Don't Compete. Create. I was even more pleased that it said the writer/director of the documentary aimed it at young people.

We who are a bit older have already benefitted from the prosperity of oil and gas. In my case, my entire university education was paid for by government programmes, funded by revenue from the oil and gas sector.

If however we continue relying heavily on oil and gas and that sector goes through another disaster like in 2014, who do you think is going to suffer the most from an undiversified economy? The young people. What saved us this time was the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund but the HSF took the blow of the oil crash and now that fund is in a recession itself.

Do you know the term being bandied about concerning Venezuela ? “Generacion perdida,” meaning “lost generation.” That is defined as a generation whose exposure to education, amenities and necessities are so far from the norm that it is not deemed on par with former generations.

What makes us think we are so different from Venezuela and are 100 per cent immune from a similar reality? So I am glad that the article said the documentary is meant to appeal to young people because they are the ones that have to get up and make noise about diversification. It is their sustainable future that this is about. The documentary is a warning.

DERRICK WEST

via e-mail