What about us?

Well may we complain about foreign wrongs being committed against nature -- think the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, whaling carried on with impunity by Japan and Iceland and so forth.    But what about our oil sands which are leaving massive tailings ponds and posing greater stress on what is left of river systems out West?   The asbestos mines in Québec?   And our own "humane" seal hunt?

Seeing the latest propaganda ad put forward by the oil producers defending the tar sands (as thick as peanut butter -- uh, yeah) and saying they've found a way to "reduce" greenhouse gases by 25 percent is really putting a spin on a disgraceful process.   How about a zero emission target, replanting several trees for every one cut down, and trying to cap over the tailings?   The powers that be figured out how to cover the slag in Sydney and that was leftovers from the steel making process.   Why can't the insanity be stopped before it really is too late?   (Oh, yeah -- the idea of a sales tax is verboten in any talk in Alberta.)

And the seal hunt.   As empathetic as I am towards the fishermen down east, killing seals for anything other than legitimate resource management is inhumane plain and simple.   We need to set an example for the world, rather than being the world leader.   In fact, if we were first to stop sealing, then perhaps we could lead the moral fight against whaling.

It's time to clean up our act.   Start actually practicing sustainable development for a change.   Drill baby drill just doesn't cut it anymore, no matter what we are drilling -- or whacking.

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