Jane Nees BOP Regional Councillor www.janenees.co.nz

There is no doubt the Bay of Plenty is facing its biggest environmental challenge in recent history with the stranding of the container ship Rena on the Astrolabe Reef.

Emotions have been running high; anger, fear, frustration and sadness have been experienced by many of us.

The media reports don't help since they are often focussed on making things look as bad as possible and uninformed criticism gives an unbalanced picture of what has happened and what will happen in the future.

I have been privileged to see the good side of the disaster, however. By this, I mean the hundreds of people who are working very hard to deal with the disaster in an official capacity. These people are bringing all of their knowledge and experience to deal with a problem which I have heard described as a ‘nine out of 10' on a scale of how difficult a salvage exercise can get.

They are working long and stressful hours and are doing their very best. Then there are the thousands of people in our community who just want to help fix the problem – from those who have volunteered to clean the beaches and save our wildlife to those people donating food and resources. Then there are the people and resources that are coming from overseas to help with the major exercise that is the Rena recovery.

We have a long and difficult task ahead of us. The recovery will not all go our way and we can expect to see significant environmental impacts. We need to be prepared for a sustained effort to put things right. Now is not the time to criticise and complain. We need to work together during the long haul, doing all we can where possible. We need to be positive and supportive, determined and focussed. When times get tough, attitude is everything.

If you have any views on this or any other issue, please contact me phone 07 579 5150, email neesj@xtra.co.nz or visit www.janenees.co.nz