Photo: flickr/Environmental Defence

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rabble.ca asked me to do a piece for Canadian Environment Week. I can’t do a whole week so how about a few hours.

Friday, May 31, 3 p.m. I called it an early day and headed to the hot dog stand.

Before I got across the street my BlackBerry buzzed — an email from a small-scale green energy company. Could I help get greater coverage for a story on southwesternonatrio.ca?

Apparently, local mayors have been holding secret meetings about locating a high level nuclear waste dump in the region. They agreed to keep it secret so their support for the scheme would not interfere with their 2010 re-election plans. I sent it to the Toronto Star.

3:20 p.m. just as I clicked send, a Tweet from Mike de Souza of PostMedia caught my eye: “B.C. says it opposes #Enbridge Northern Gateway #pipeline #cdnpoli” Hopping on the bus giddy with joy I drafted a thumb-typed release:

(OTTAWA) Sierra Club Canada congratulates Premier Christy Clark and the people of British Columbia on their historic decision to reject the Northern Gateway pipeline. “Days like this give meaning to 50 years of environmental activism,” said John Bennett, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada.” Words cannot express how much I admire the activists and First Nations who made this decision possible,” said Mr. Bennett. 

It really started to feel like we are winning, so I started typing this blog post, but then this arrived: 

“The provincial Cabinet announced today its approval of sweeping exemptions for industry under the Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA). Environmental organizations are incensed at the government’s abdication of its responsibility to protect and recover Ontario’s endangered plants and animals. This is the first major test of the new Cabinets commitment to the environment, and they have failed, says Dr. Anne Bell, director of conservation and education at Ontario Nature. They have turned their backs on the provinces most imperiled wildlife, and at a time when the federal government is poised to do the same. The new exemptions lower the standard of protection for endangered plants and animals across many industries, including forestry, pits and quarries, renewable energy, hydro, mining, infrastructure development, waste management, and commercial and residential development. They also dramatically reduce government oversight of activities affecting Ontario’s lakes, rivers, forests and wildlife.” 

We, of course, had launched an email campaign on Wednesday to protect endangered species and launched our e-book. I believed we could win it in Ontario.

Then the phone rang and I got a little more on the waste dump story. Apparently the developer has met with the local council to ask if they would lease the local green power co-op some land at the local dump for a small ten megawatt windmill in return for $40,000 annual rent. No, they told him, they didn’t want to threaten the health of municipal workers at the nearby water treatment plant — but a high level nuclear waste depository is okay?

4:30 p.m. but before I could grieve for the losses the media calls started so I headed back downtown to do TV.

Had to smile and be enthusiastic about the B.C. government in three interviews.

One out of three ain’t bad. I guess.

Happy Environment Week!

Canadian Environment Week runs June 2 – 8. What is Stephen Harper doing to celebrate?

Photo: flickr/Environmental Defence