Sometimes it seems we humans don’t even deserve to live on this planet.
We’re not talking about carbon emissions or global warming or pipelines or oil spills or coal mines or anything that big.
Those issues develop a life of their own and get hijacked by special interest groups — it’s often difficult to separate the rhetoric from fact, the wheat from the agenda-driven chaff.
There are, however, simple things we can do — or avoid — to show we at least have some respect for our planet and for the surroundings we enjoy snd the public spaces we have created in Parksville Qualicum Beach.
For starters, how about the many responsible young people in our region explain to the few idiots of their age group that doing doughnuts on the grass of a public park is not cool.
We don’t think we are going out on a limb here to suggest the criminals who tore up the turf this weekend in Parksville Community Park were not likely over the age of 60. Even the ads for erectile dysfunction don’t go that far.
Parksville’s parks superintendent suggested those who do this wreck-the-grass-in-your-vehicle stuff need serious help of the psychological variety. He was speaking with a hint of anger as we looked at the turf, and we don’t blame him.
However, peer pressure can be way more effective than counselling, so we challenge the young people of our region to put up signs in the high schools discouraging this behaviour. They are creative people who can come up with a slogan or something that explains this really isn’t fun or respectful of the planet and their fellow residents.
A letter writer today explained how his recent walk by the sea was ruined by finding a dead sea bird with some kind of plastic washer around its neck. Sad stuff. It’s much tougher to spot the offender in this case, and it may just be something that innocently fell off a boat.
But it is a good reminder about how our actions, or inaction, can result in the death of an animal or an ecosystem.
Perhaps both these stories today can serve as a reminder to all of us to take better care of our surroundings.
— Editorial by John Harding