Nicola Ross

The other day, a fellow journalist told me that Happiness equals Expectations divided by Reality (H=E/R). In other words, if you expect Prince or Princess Charming, but reality dishes out a frog, you might not end up being that happy.

The languorous dog days of summer are upon me as I write this editorial. Tonight, Sirius, the canine star, will light up the sky. But I can’t ignore the slightly burnt aroma of autumn that already tinges the still afternoon air.

I’ve been  thinking a lot about Sudbury these days. Long the butt of moonscape jokes and widely recognized as one of the world’s “best” examples of industrial pollution, this Northern Ontario town has much to teach us about hope and moving ahead.

By the 1970s, after decades of exposure to sulphur-laden clouds emanating from open-air nickel and copper smelters, an immense blackened area encompassing Sudbury grew nothing but an occasional stunted birch tree. For Sudbury, environmental devastation was considered the cost of high-paying jobs.

THE FEDERAL election is kicking into high gear as this issue goes to press. It’s too early to predict which party will form the next government, but regardless of who ends up living at 24 Sussex Drive, there is an abundance of environmental lessons that our future prime minister can learn from other jurisdictions – the European Union in particular.