One of the environmental issues that has me most concerned right now is the oil sands development.... Not only are we depleting our own back up oil reserves in order to make some quick cash by selling it to the US, but the development itself is realy out of control. It really needs to be better managed, since I doubt it can be stopped at this point... And not only is it a huge ecological issue, the oil sands development is having a huge impact on Canada's eonomy in all kinds of little ways - so many people are moving out west that it is hard to find people for low level jobs in the maritimes... And even in Alberta, they can't get ehough people to work the service industry. Everytime people talk about the oil sands, or even just the peak oil problem, I keep getting this twinge of terror that in, say, less than 20 years we're goig to find ourselves in a terrible big mess...

The whole oil issue also makes me reluctuant to even want to learn to drive, even though having a license doens't have to equate with owning a car, or driving everywhere.

Blah. I am mostly just sympathizing. I wish i could do more than I am; something that would actually *matter*, I just don't know what it is...