James Cameron sensible on Oil Sands
During his recent visit to the tar sands in Alberta, James Cameron had lot to say and made a lot of sense. In fact, I share a lot of the views he expressed. We are all dependent on oil / petrol, for our cars, to heat our homes to transport our food and goods that we rely on everyday. We must increase the shift to greener technologies as fast as we can, to reduce our dependency on oil. We must also be realistic that we will continue to rely on oil for years to come, and the tar sands deposit in Alberta, being the second largest deposit on the planet, will play a key role in our energy supply in the years to come.
Some of the important information:
- The tar sands are a huge asset for Canada and a means for ending US and Canadian dependency on foreign oil.
- They have huge potential, but also the possibility to be one of the worst environmental disasters on the planet.
- It is one of the largest ‘gold rushes’ in North America since 1849.
- The downstream impacts on native communities, particularly the people of Fort Chipewyan, must be considered as they have already shown cancer rates as much as 30% higher. The people are afraid to drink their own water.
- We should slow down the development of the Oil Sands and continue to research and develop new, cleaner methods to extract the oil.
- We must extract the oil in the cleanest way possible!
I am not opposed to the development and extraction of oil in Alberta, but we must do so in the most responsible fashion possible, in order to ensure the health and safety of the people and the planet. Doesn’t Canada pride itself on being enlightened socially and ethically? Shouldn’t Canada strive to be a role model in how it manages one of the most valuable resource deposits on the planet?
