I havent had much time to write in here but some things came to mind over the past couple of weeks....
The Greenpeace demonstration at the Calgary Tower, for example. I watched a news piece where a tourist from Illinois was interviewed and she said something like 'I support Greenpeace' and appeared proud of what they did. The whole time, I was thinking "oh really lady? And how exactly did you get to Calgary from Illinois? did you fly? drive?"... using FUEL of course, either way. While saying she is supportive of what Greenpeace did, there was a banner flying way above her head saying Separation of Oil and State. How did the climbers get the gear they used? How did THEY get to Calgary and then subsequently, the tower? How was their repelling equipment made? What materials and processes were used? Etc etc. The list goes on. It just makes me barf, it really does.
But an added moment for me was the fact that my 13 year old son had been there a few days previously with his family visiting from the UK. They were up in the Calgary Tower. What if Greenpeace had chosen that day for their stunt instead? My son and his young cousins and the rest of his family could have been escorted down by police while the area was secured. Or perhaps their lives could have been in danger, worse case scenario. Why should people be supportive of that? Or the fact that the family made a special trip into Calgary to visit the tower specifically and their visit could have been cut short due to the antics of some extemeists? How long are we going to turn a blind eye to this sort of activity? And who is to pay the bill for the emergency crews and police that were on hand in case of an accident, and to get those fools down? Oh that's right - taxpayers in Calgary, or perhaps the entire province of Alberta, depending on how you look at it with funding and whatnot. That's who pays for these antics - WE do. And yes, the Greenpeace people were traveling in a rental van - which one interviewee on CTV managed to point out on camera. He said 'I dont think that thing runs on potato peelings'. lol.
Anyway it was just something that came to mind while I watched the news coverage. My son being there a few days earlier, and the cost of such endeavors, and what fuels were used to help them put up their anti oil/gov banner, and the travel means of the activists and their supporters. Also wondering how many of them had Blackberrys and IPhones in their pockets so they could Twitter their activities....
Separate the green religion and state is more appropriate. I also think hefty fines for greenpeace are in order. This organization exists only to plan stunts an spread nonsense. Its time we put a stop to it.
ReplyDeleteThe irony, which I blogged about today - is that American's own backyard is hardly beyond reproach, but as so often happens, it's easier to be smug about what your neighbor is doing when you hide your own shortcomings..
ReplyDeleteSee Berkeley Pit in Butte, Montana, or Iron Mountain, Colorado for example.
I spotted a headline this monring on the Caglary Herald, I believe, about British tourists being soured by that ad showing the oil sands and ducks covered in oil, etc. Thing is, I lived over there and I felt like I was in an episode of The Simpsons because of the Didcot Power Station just a few miles from my home. It looked exactly the same as the nuclear station on there. The traffic in the UK is ridiculous, especially around the urban areas (which are far more plentiful than Canada and the US), the traffic jams going into Oxford every morning was INSANE like totally freaking INSANE... I lived in Germany and traveled through 4 countries to get back to England for visits and it was the same there. Some beautiful open space, and some scary industrialized areas. So what's the big deal about seeing some stuff in an area here that may very well be the size of England - when England can fit into Alberta alone 7 or 9 times (I cant recall the stat off-hand). But if they don't want to travel here because of that, I don't mind. The vast majority of the tourists we saw dumping their garbage on the ground and throwing smoke butts out of windows in Banff at the end of July were 'foreign' anyway. Maybe I don't want them enjoying my parks anymore if I am going to have to pay to clean up after THEM lol.
ReplyDeletePS = the english and scottish family members who were just here for two weeks were literally ASTONISHED by the lower price of fuel here. Less than half what they have to pay. So maybe they would actually welcome similar digs in their country if it would benefit their people. Who knows ;)