Turks and Jerks: The Fight for Green

I recently became aware of protesting going on in Turkey.  It seems that the Turkish people are staging demonstrations and camping out in pretty much the only park left in Istanbul.  Why?  Because the government has decided (in infinite government wisdom) that they will cut down hundreds of trees and pretty much demolish the whole park.  Again, why?  To build a shopping mall and some luxury condos.  The citizens of Istanbul have occupied Gezi Park in an effort to prevent this from happening.  

This movement has gained momentum on two fronts; the environmental side and the anti-government side.  The Environmentalists have argued that there is little green space left in the city and that some of the trees are decades old, and by destroying this area, the quality of life of Istanbul's residents will greatly diminish.  Good point.

The Anti-Government protesters are trying to draw attention to the corruption they are finding in their government.  This whole project was originally rejected by a governmental committee, but subsequently overturned by another committee (with supposed strong persuasion from certain voices in power). There are also questions of connections between the private building companies and certain government members.  (Wow, politics and business getting in bed together....all over the world).

Their struggle over there, has me thinking of some similar situations in my own province.  There is a potential closing of green space here in Alberta, as well that we should be aware of.  Mount Norquay ski resort, located in Banff National park, has been given approval by Parks Canada, to open during the summer months and to also expand their ski runs.  The problem lies in that the ski resort is next to an important wildlife corridor for grizzly bears and also contains sensitive vegetation.  This move seems to continue the growing trend of the urbanization of wildlife ecosystems.  We keep building and invading into the wilderness and pushing wildlife further and further away from their natural habitats and territories.  Next, we are complaining about wild creatures coming into our communities and yards.  Eating from our gardens, getting into our garbage, pooping on our precious lawns.  Pretty soon, we are finding ourselves in more aggressive conflict with our furry and feathered neighbours.  We are asking conservation officers to relocate troublesome creatures (which almost always ends badly) or even worse, to exterminate them.  We need to stand up for these animals or we will risk standing against them some day.