Policy

Dear Minister: What Sort of Carbon Footprint Does Burning a Cat Create?

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The best-laid Earth Hours can often go awry. Earth Hour is an annual event in which people all over the world are supposed to not use electricity as a way of showing how totally awesome they are.

But it's not an Earth Hour until the fur starts to burn. Dateline, Victoria, British Columbia:

B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner was hoping to spark a little romance with his wife over a candlelit dinner Saturday during Earth Hour.

Instead, he accidentally set his cat on fire.

Penner, who had been urging British Columbians to forgo electricity during the annual conservation event, took his own advice and lit numerous candles for the night.

"We actually enjoyed a very romantic candlelit dinner that was only interrupted when our cat set himself on fire by brushing up against the flame, which caused some excitement."

I'm sure we're all relieved that there was some excitement. The cat, Ranger (pictured), was unavailable for comment, but was allegedly doing swell. Penner stuck to the no-electricity theme of the evening and refused to operate a fan to remove the odor (odour?) of singed cat fur.

Whole bit here.