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I get as skeptical " anyone. But this tune I'm willing to concede that Waterloo my council may Gaily have started down the track of putting the environment first. We all get a little skeptical when politi. cians speak about the importance of the environment. Even Brian Mulroney claims to be an environmentalist, and he's about as far from one (judging hr performance rather than rhetoric) as we have in this country The idea was first proposed by rookie Coun. Susan Forwell in the pages of this newspaper several months ago. My ears shot up. They shot up largely because a few moments earlier Tumbull had also said that Waterloo is "trying to defuse its future from an ecosystems perspective". Mayor Brian Turnbull sprung a beauty at Monday's conference exploring how to save and restore Laurel Creek to its one- tune grandam. He woul be recommending to city council that a full-time staffer be hired to oversee the project, and also to work on other environmental inns: in the city. Council may finally be on the environmental track T1teinteruatiomlB1aekttihttoatmrth-tit-tumter1oo Region joins in the atrgattttration d' the China: Conunun'm govanmant of its bloody. t,','gelgrggi,r, of I peaceful 4emtetietmmttnentintheiramrttr, "tmtdotrrmttpatttrto theChineaepoople. Martytourtnem_hmnEttateraslh-ndAaiattavsregtth. stu-tttttut-etnies-ttOrneta/R-ttteCart-ian grrverturtenttoeutall-tornieti-ithChina.Witwthisiethe tmlywartoroema-iirtgfulutartg-dmoredentoeratie iPterttmfttt-ryehesereteeh-takimrpiaexrinthestmut Union.fotoodbythedq)lonblomthemom&k0nlyby continuingeoonomic can: nonunion e . 'a"e'TlSr"lfl'J"iE 'tTlft'll'rri,t2gi'l,1ititrtttNta, community asmri1atseveryone intermdinpencewith freedomw jof.?yt1uttt-frl_tlem,ogPtr,tioponAttgdihiehhasbeen Mri.eitllyproeWeiBlacriphtse_hrinfritrunerhrthemar. ytdfityayneihAp1tradphpmvieGrinNrktorrinirstreetind 1?peuertsc.orzte.rswilltaupueeattttinun.spui"poeeotthii demonstration is to draw attention to the continuing lack of real demoeratieeh-behindtlteirmtcurtainatrmriGChinaand otherpartsoftheworid.0mr50eiti-tdmiriiit-aniiar demonstrations on this day. including cities behind the honCurtain, for "Peace with Freedom". Cut all ties to China, committee urges Opinion Black Ribbon Day Committee There's still a long way to go, but Turnhull seems to have turned the corner. The point is, local politicians can be mm“ JIT, tttdal m1“: population any . several years, city hall he Ieen the in of citizens fed up with the deteriorating environment, and 'tttg.' life, that is happening here in We . For instance, there’s the matter of chan- neling Laurel Creek. And now Colonial Creek. Then there was the insistence that city hall enter into household recycling, an insiltenee that built until the previous council rtnally had to bend. Today, perhaps Canada', only amt: recycling committee is working to expend recycling to apartments and townhouses, tam" - whicp%liuYor. GaGGiriiai, opment as the way to save our planet. business and industry, public and separate schools. and maybe - if President Doug Wright's attention can be caught - even University of Waterloo. l Then there’s the west-side expansion. Atta, 1isg't, planning ttltd In.” packed meyttttgryeitimtts year. e city‘s plans to delta-ate the enVironmen‘ ttttlt/ttli;':':',?,',',,',),':"',?',:',':',',:": (tempusnly' on o . it ”thong t the plan. One outcom of that was the citizen's growth committee, which will soon make its that report public. Cityhallhaaheenforcedtoatleast listen. Occasionally they act. Sometimes they put up mokescroens or study some thing hopirigthe issue will die. 0n environ- mental matters, with public interest conti- nuing to grow, that will be a mistake. But Mbull’s suggestion that the city hire someone to work on the urban envi- moment is welcome news. So was my recent discovery that he is reading the .Brtu.t.dt1anrytiott on "Our Common Fu. “mammal. ow HAVE {ONEMERm "T tst,ttlar'fAt:xoEitlENtMrstsEE AYEARRDUN‘D igigiitMtigtttg l." Perhaps he's even listening to David Suzuki’s CBC Sunday Morning program - e to were any eeriom politician into more T rheta'ic. . . -- Became while the rainSoreat is in South America. treee are also being out down to make room for Waterloo', growth. And while the advancing desert in now out of amtml in Africa, valuable farmland in being swallowed right here. And while the greenhouse can ia happening every where, Canadians are the biggea pigs in the meld. And while our dying, Laurel Creek ia ahrtartil while we 1tfg',tt'.'! then che our water we’re . call into the lame 'llk',1rlll'tPd'd we will v shortly be drinking from. I then]; Brian 'hzrnhull not only knows this, but honestly wants to do lamething about it. So do other members of council. But itynotgpittgtobeetmr, andthey need help from all of us. Perhaps name than anything, they need citizens to keep the pressure 'Ott, to overcome the inertia of bureaucrats, and the influence of local special interest groups. i _