Not easy being green

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• Greens running gas fear campaign

My backyard is teeming with life – much of it bubbling to the surface from the delighted six-year-old bounceroo on her trampoline, squealing with delight as her gorgeous father squirts her with the hose.

We are not usually so relaxed about water useage but, thanks to the recent rain, the tank’s full and it’s really hot.

As the butterflies do their fluttery dance through the air and the lorikeets chirp above us, the gorgeous man does his best to convince the bounceroo that the best game she could ever play is “Do what I say, without question, forever”. She remains cheerfully and healthily sceptical.

There’s a family of large green tree frogs under one of our water tanks, many insects and birds. Our Great Labrador took off to the front of the house at the first sign of the hose, evidently associating it with those many horrible occasions it has been used to wash her free of compost or whatever other delicious perfume she had chosen.

With all this life, comes responsibility.

We have a responsibility to protect not only our own backyards but our collective backyard: the environment. After watching Four Corners on Monday I was all ready to be outraged and angry that an evil mining industry was setting up in our backyard, but then I spoke with two of the people in charge of Metgasco and now I’m not so sure. I’m still healthily sceptical (I wouldn’t be much of a journalist if I wasn’t) but my fears regarding toxic chemicals being released into our water system have been somewhat allayed and I’ve stopped picturing dead fish and oily pelicans floating down the Richmond River. However, what I am sure of is that our other front-page story about Nimbin’s solar farm is a fantastic idea and a wonderful example of what can happen when people work together for the greater good.