It may have been a whisper from deep inside seeking to understand the relevance to us, of another macabre, very unsustainable development, to attract the attention of ca. 30 people in “The Forest” cafe (3 Bristo Place, Edinburgh) on the 07/07/11. Some may have chosen to invest 1 hour, 16 mins on free education. Some may have unintentionally caught the scenes of devastation and conflict from Alberta. Who knows, some may have been indifferent to them or disbelieved, but whatever impression this documentary provoked, it probably stimulated the viewer to acting more towards a cleaner future.
Indigenous people’s communities and the global environment are suffering serious crimes, committed by the oil industry with the complicity of local authorities and the Canadian government. That’s right! The world’s largest industrial operation and second largest oil reservoir after Saudi Arabia, namely the Oil or Tar Sands is trashing human rights in Alberta (Canada) and exponentially accelerating global warming. The Tar Sands occupy an area of 149 thousand Km², an area which is larger than England or Florida, which use to be partially covered by an old-growth boreal forest.
In the documentary, an independent ecologist (Dr. Kevin Timoney) exposes data collected at 4 sites along the Athabasca river, showing high concentrations of carcinogenic compounds and elements in the water and in the air. The main source of contamination is ca 16 km² large tailing ponds (artificial basins) located across the development areas, which spill an average flow of 67 litres/sec of toxic water into the fresh water of the Athabasca river. The GP of an indigenous community 250 km downstream, Fort Chipewyan, (Dr John O’Connor) explains how the rare cancer cases and their link to the polluting substances reported by Dr Timoney match unequivocally. Several Chipewyan witnesses and community leaders report the impact of environmental contamination on their lives and express their feelings on the way authorities and the Government are (not!) dealing with their repeated requests for studies to be carried on the environmental conditions of their land. A local small spring water business claims dropping water levels, year after year, in the aquifers located downstream from the Tar sands development area.
On the other side, the oil industry released a “school of enormous, ravaging piranhas” including Syncrud, Trans-Canada, Kindermorgan, Enbridge amongst others, to attack Fort Chipewyan and Alberta’s environment. The very large profits that these “piranhas” obtain from the pollution of the Fort Chipewyan community for oil is being fully backed by the Government of Alberta; with a Syncrude’s senior official (Heather Kennedy) as deputy minister, ‘responsible’ for the development of Fort McMurray urban service area, further down the stream. A delegation from Syncrude will attempt reinsuring the Fort Chipewyan’s community, at a meeting, that their land and water are not polluted, but they will do this by carrying their own bottle of water to the meeting! They will put it on the bourgeois moral, that it is hard for them to hear what they are being told because the community should trust their and the Government’s word that Fort Chipewyan is not actually polluted by the Tar Sands development.
Take a close look at the Tar Sands development site, browse the internet and think for a moment of how on earth can humans get away with that? Maybe at the moment we do, but it is likely that this is an unexploded bomb, ready to go off at any minute. Scientists say that a significant breach of the ponds would result in an environmental catastrophe, equivalent to 300 EXXON Valdes spills! Make your own judgement after witnessing by yourself the evidence gathered in this documentary.
We cannot keep living without to account that resources in a closed system (all earth’s systems and resources) are finite and that scarring the earth by extractive human activities will eventually compromise the quality and time of our existence on earth, as individuals and as species. In our daily life we must choose not to add to the destruction of what we depend on.
WHAT CAN WE DO INDIVIDUALLY TO CONTRIBUTE STOPPING THE TAR SANDS?
The more you walk or cycle, and not drive your own motor vehicle, the less you fund oil extractive activities & reckless corporate profits.
- If you cannot cycle, the use & promotion of public transport (buses, trains, trams and cycle taxis) is a much better alternative than using your own motor vehicle.
- Minimizing waste: wrapping and packaging are often oil-derived. Choose re-fill shops for your food and (eco-) cleaning detergents.
- Buy local, reducing transport distances for your shopping.
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – for instance, creatively reuse what the “old you” would throw into the rubbish bin!
- Avoid aeroplanes as much as you can.
- TO GET INVOLVED: www.h2Oildoc.com, www.greenpeace.org.uk
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