Three bits of good environmental news

December 9, 10

Lately I’ve been listening to the cast recording of “Next to Normal”, a musical I saw this summer in New York. One of the songs begins:

HENRY: Our planet is poisoned, the oceans, the air,
around, beneath and above you.
NATALIE: Um, Henry, that’s true, and I totally care.
HENRY: I’m trying to tell you, I love you.

Clunky, in a Broadway sort of way (later, there’s funny line, “you’ve got some nerve, Henry, and I’m just all nerves”), but also emblematic of the daily news we hear about the environment. We rarely hear good news about our planet. So here are a three positive news items I’ve encountered this week:

• A census reveals that the number of mountain gorillas has increased. Hurray for eco-tourism.
• Closer to home, BC’s the House of Commons adopted an opposition motion calling for a ban on crude-oil tanker traffic off British Columbia’s north coast. It’s non-binding, but it puts pressure on the federal government to do the right thing. It’s on a rare day that I agree with Pamela Anderson.
• Manitoba announced the creation of two new provincial parks, protecting 610,000 hectares of wilderness. That’s an area bigger than Prince Edward Island.

4 Responses to “Three bits of good environmental news”

1. Brenton December 9, 10

   The oil tanker motion passed in the House of Commons in Ottawa.

   

   darren Reply:
   December 9th, 2010 at 9:22 pm

   Whoops, thanks for that–fixed.

2. Rob Cottingham December 14, 10

   Alex and I caught Next to Normal in 2009 – absolutely loved it, although it wrecked us for the night. (Try having a cheery, carefree dinner on the town after THAT.)

   

   darren Reply:
   December 14th, 2010 at 7:23 pm

   Indeed, I believe we saw it partially on Alex’s recommendation. I didn’t find it quite so moving, but then I have a wizened heart of granite.

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