Oh, great. Just after we bade auf Wiedersehen to the world leaders, anarchists, New York Times reporters and other outsiders disrupting our quiet, provincial way of life comes news that Pittsburgh has been chosen North American host of the United Nations Environment Programme's World Environment Day 2010.

Leaving aside the fact that these U.N. folks don't know how to spell program, (Why not "Environmentte," while you're at it?) it means we have to get all gussied up before June 5, just like we did in advance of the Sept. 24 and 25 G-20 summit. This reminds us of shooing off the relatives after a week-long Christmas visit, only to get a call the next day from hard-partying cousin Ernie saying, "Hey, I can make it in for a long weekend. Can you put me up for New Year's?"

When the announcement was made Thursday, Bayer Corp. President Greg Babe, whose company helped pursue our World Environment Day selection, said, "Like during G-20, our region will once again be in the national and international spotlight." The day is held to bring attention to environmental issues and how communities can work to promote sustainable development. That sounds a lot like Earth Day, but no, that's a whole different day, on April 22 as the start of events that culminate with World Environment Day.

So, basically, don't expect any arrests here of rappeling Greenpeace protesters from April 22 through June 5. More likely, we're supposed to give them a Steelers-Penguins style parade down the Boulevard of the Allies to applaud their daredevilry in the name of the planet's future.

During the announcement of our selection, accompanied by G-20 hosannas and comparisons, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato was careful to note one difference: "We'll need less security."

Now there's the first mistake. Too many think we overdid security preparations for the G-20, after failing to attract the number of militant protesters anticipated. (See what happens when you don't have a big hotel connected to your convention center?) It's a good thing sufficient number of naive college students and journalists were willing to gather in one spot in Oakland to keep the local and visiting police from feeling they had entirely wasted their G-20 training.

But just because the summit wasn't the disaster of disorder that some predicted, that's no reason to assume World Environment Day will be safe.

Possibly on June 5 of next year, if the mayor and a group of schoolchildren are planting a tree in Market Square, with nary a Long-Range Acoustic Device to be heard, a patient protester will take advantage of the complacency by throwing a rock through the window of some well-deserved environmental target like ... like ... a sandwich shop? A coffee shop? (For some reason, those often seem to lose their windows. Pizza outlets don't seem to be perceived as equivalent world menaces.)

Then we'll be sorry we ever heard of World Environment Day.

Since Omaha, Neb., was the World Environment Day host this year, we hoped some research would turn up evidence of havoc there. Maybe it had experienced a wild horde of counter-environmental protesters, storming the streets to support increased use of Hummers and incandescent light bulbs. Or maybe Omaha shut down its downtown as a safety precaution, just in case such people showed up, which led to subsequent riots by business owners who lost money during World Environment Day.

If we could find such problems, we could lead a campaign to repeal Pittsburgh's WED hosting, thereby assuring we could sleep in on June 5 without being sent to cover some environmental story.

Alas, we could find no such troubles in Omaha. The children's museum there held a summer-long painting competition exhibition connected to the event, which somehow went off without any arrests.

Short of that, World Environment Day could be coming, whether we like it or not. Our question is: When does it all end? When can we quit painting on a smile for the spotlighted summits and days and most-livable-city awards and sports championships and U.S. Opens and fishing tournaments and all-star games and the rest?

Not any time soon. And with Pennsylvania about to legalize table games, we assume that puts us in the running to host the 2011 World Series of Poker, with ESPN spotlighting us as the world's new gambling capital. As Max says in that new movie and old children's book: Let the wild rumpus start!

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.