If it were not so sad, it would be funny. Last year, Stephen Harper had never heard of the environment, let alone understood that there was something wrong with it. When pressured, he sent the then current Conservative lady scapegoat, Rona Ambrose, to Kenya to make a fool of herself. She presented a Canadian environmental policy that was a bad joke and washed our internal political laundry in public by complaining about the legacy left to her government by the previous one.

She had her 15 minutes of international fame, all right, and put Canada in the limelight, but not in a way that made any of us happy.

Since then, Harper would really have preferred to just skip the environmental issues, because he has been so wrapped up in making Canada a military power, a role for which we have not been known since we stood by Mother Britain in the Second World War. What has won us international esteem is our reputation as negotiators for peace, our balanced view of international matters, our caring attitude through our programs of foreign aid both with money and real assistance.

Now our boys are gung-ho, shooting members of the Taliban (probably, possibly, unless they make mistakes) in the deserts of Afghanistan.

Our soldiers are dying and so is our enviable place on the international stage as independent, intelligent purveyors of peaceful solutions.

What is more, Harper's view of the Middle East has tipped Canada's carefully balanced and judicious policies and approaches into a blur of myopia, tinted by the leadership of the Bush administration.

Where Canada has been a leader in international diplomacy, Harper is a follower, an adherent to the worst of bullies.

But, wait a minute, here comes that pesky Stéphane Dion, winning the leadership of the Liberal party almost solely by expounding his concern for the environment. What is more, he harps on about the fiscal benefits of going green, to changing from industry that is killing our planet to industry that sustains the earth while still providing us with our needs. He claims it can and must be done!

In addition, all those darned tree huggers are now much noisier and numerous than ever before like that bossy David Suzuki, who has such a strong grip on the public's imagination these days.

So the boring old environment is back on Harper's plate and he can not avoid it. Harperlike, John Baird is another oaf sent out with a completely unsubstantiated report of fiscal doom and an offer of legislation which will not severely inconvenience big industry and likely do very little to help contribute to the healing our planet's ails.

If any Prime Minister were to be serious about the environment, he would shut down the oil sands for a start. They only started extracting the oil from the sands once the price of crude rose high enough to warrant the cost. But they could have left the sands forever, for the cost to the environment of the work there can be seen from space.

Friends of ours have been working on their house for a year - no major renovations, nothing structural, but new paint throughout, fresh trim, wood sanded and varnished - you know the sort of thing. Now that a new spring is here, they are giving thought to the outside area of their home, looking at the yard, which was a bit scruffy. They are installing beautiful flagstone, wondering what to do with the gardens and pondering the case of their pond. It is not a pond that was created on purpose but one that developed as a result of the digging that went on during the original building of the house.

Now it is full of interesting grasses and simple water plant life, amongst which a naturally occurring ecosystem has grown up.

Especially the frogs.

They sing and call across the land and their songs are wonderful, as they rev up to their mating season . Recently, the husband of this couple, a confessed urbanite, dreamt up a plan for the pond: digging it deeper here, keeping it shallow on one end and putting in some sand for a mini beach. Then, he wanted to yank down some trees for a clear view of the pond from the kitchen. He was ready to go.

But he hit a couple of snags: his country-born wife and her daughter, both of whom were ready to defend the frogs - by throwing themselves in front of the digger, if necessary, sixties-styles.

Even he understood and admitted that the digging day would "not be a good day for the frogs." But someone had told him that they would just jump into the nearby woods and then come back once the digging was done. He was ready to go with that theory. Dark looks from spouse and child.

However, when the man who would do the digging came to look at and advise on the actual project, he assured our city-guy that he would not proceed at the moment.

"You have to wait for the frogs," he told our hero, "I'll be back later in June."

The greatest, most revolutionary movements have always succeeded from the ground up. Every one of us knows, in fact, what is needed and what must be given in order to begin to restore our beleaguered earth.

We know how determined and forthright our political and industrial leaders must be. There is now no denying our failings and our responsibilities.

So, look out, Mr. Harper, we tree huggers and defenders of frogs are watching you.