I woke up to this?!

Now that my exams are over, I'm able to resume my daily purview of the news by going to Bourque's website. This is what I found:

"Back to drawing board on Kyoto"

"Another spill at Terra Nova"

"Iraq Explosion at U.S. Base in Mosul Causes Many Casualties"

"New jail abuse allegations hit US"

And it gets better from there. So, to me, it seems like the world's been having a good morning.

Now, as an environmental science student, the first two articles drew me in (the other two just highlights the ongoing tragedy that is the US involvement in Iraq).

The first, by columnist Stephen Handelman, basically describes another meeting to meet by governments about setting new targets and such for the Kyoto Accord. Why, you ask? well, you see, Kyoto comes into effect, wait for it, February 16, 2005. And while the Europeans are the only ones who seem to give a damn, the Martin minority government isn't going to lift a finger as our emission rises, the US (who aren't in the treaty) continue to obfuscate their responsibilities by calling for 'better research and technology,' Japan's emissions rose by 12%, and China and India (who also aren't involved) sit on the sidelines pumping out carbon dioxide. The cynic in me is just depressed.

Several points. The US are right in wanting better research and technology and getting China and India involved. No question. However, we always want better info and technology. We'll never have perfect information. So what will it take for us to act? The lack of political will or our refusal to do something about it because we're too comfortable in our North American society's just frustrating. The information we have now suggests that there's a good chance something will happen. So why don't we act?

It seems if we put up and actually make the environmental technology a major part of our economy, isn't that a signal to China and India that it can be done, and that it's WORTH IT to be done? Can't we then export these technologies abroad and increase our influence? China's starting into the game. With economies of scale, they could just leapfrog us. How much dominance will we have then in the global economy if China's going to be productive AND clean?

There's a good chance that nothing'll happen. I don't dispute that possibility. But if the technology's going to benefit people anyways, isn't that worth pursuing? I'm not saying the ends justify the means, but if the journey's worth taking (since it'll reduce reliance on foreign oil, reduce our impacts on our environment, reduce health care costs, etc.), why don't we do it? History's shown us that some human tragedies could've been prevented. Why can't we, for once, be forward-thinking? Why must we fall back on "necessity" as the mother to get us out of this mess?

Now the second story tells us that Petro-Canada's floating platform Terra Nova spilled again. Now, it's not a major spill (compared to their previous spills or other companies' spills), but any spill is not a good spill (that's a lot of spills). This may, in some quarter, renew the call for privatization of this quasi-Crown Corporation. While there are many arguments for or against, I do not want to see these people use these spills as one of them, since they seem to think private businesses are so much better at running these operations. Need I remind them that in this instance, their track record is not so hot. So I better not find privatization and these oil spills in the same article.

Finally, the CFL is looking to expand a franchise in Halifax. The site is a call for support. Now, here's the killer thing. The name of the proposed team? The Halifax Explosion. Yes, you read it right. Now, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seems to me the name lacks a certain, oh, I don't know, tact. It's like the Montreal Alouettes being called the Montreal Massacre. C'mon people, what is wrong with you? Halifax has such a great history and culture and the Explosion's the best you can come up with?

Man, if my sheets weren't packed away, I'd want to go back to bed and hibernate until this is all over.