Alberta Pride

A small part of the pride I feel in being an Albertan has been taken away from me forever, as a result of the outside report done on the tar sands, published in the "Guardian". I knew the basic facts about Fort McMurray, such as it being extremely over run with workers, money, and problems of drug and alcohol abuse. I assumed that there must be some environmental effects of oil production, but they were never put into perspective for me. And that is exactly what the Alberta government wants! I think most people would be horrified to find out the facts of tar sand production, and perhaps there would be more support for environmental issues than there presently is.

One barrel of natural gas and water is needed to produce one barrel of crude oil??? Are people nuts?? Countries like Australia are in a constant state of drought and water conservation, and we use enough water in one day to service a city of a million people? Do people not realize that water is a non-renewable resource? The fact that the water ponds holding the tainted water can be seen from space is crazy!! People should think about the day there is no water to irrigate crops, or there is no viable water for drinking. The widespread panic and destructive effects on civilization will be devastating! Do people really think it cannot happen? The human race is good at "sticking their head in the sand" and pretending that everything will work out for the best. Perhaps it is the realization that many of these users will be dead before the effects are felt by humanity, but they should feel for their children, who may be the victims of famine, drought, and other little nasties.

Sometimes I wonder why the large environmental organizations such as Green Peace, do not take more active measures to fix the problem. I guess they do not want to suffer the major effects of actions that the majority of society do not support anyways. Also, the possibility of human casualities and injuries is not attractive either, as these tar sand productions go around the clock. Green Peace staged a little protest on the high level bridge Monday afternoon. They rappelled off the bridge and hung a banner, supporting the shut down of the oil sands to meet Kyoto requirements. I totally understood their issues, as a result of just reading the "Guardian" article for class. I think the benefit that they had on the general public was nil, because they did not explain the issues at all. Most Albertans hear the statement "shut the tar sands down" and they laugh and say "yea right". That is why an article such as the one done in the UK is needed here. Albertans may not be so quickly to laugh when they are confronted with concrete, accurate facts on the environmental and social effects of our oil boom. I know it was a sobering experience for me.