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Tar sands videos greatest hits

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Extraction and export of Canada's Tar Sands, or bituminous sands, stands at the centre of the current debate concerning global warming and climate   

change.  Oilsands are extracted by a "truck and shovel" method and heavy hauler trucks are used in this process.  Canada's oil sans are found in three deposits, the Athabasca, Peace River, and Cold Lake areas in Alberta and part of Saskatchewan. 

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers [CAPP] says "Canada's energy future lines in the oilsands."  CAPP maintains that the oil industry will manage the oilsands responsibly.

Mike De Souza, writing for Postmedia News, reported today that a internal memo revealed that Environment Minister Peter Kent was being urged by his department to give greater attention to regulating oilsands companies "and other large polluters" and to "focus on climate change essentials."

 

A film by Niobe Thompson and Tom Radford documents the "David and Goliath-style battle over the oil sands in the town of Fort Chipewyan in northern Alberta, saying the town is "first to witness the impact of the Tar Sands project, which may be a tipping point for oil development in Canada.

 
Meanwhile, a film by special interest group "Ethical Oil" asserts that Canadian oil is morally superior to Saudi Arabian oil due to Canada's excellent human rights policies and treatment of women. 
 

 A Vancouver Observer video based on Barry Saxifrage's "Climate Snapshot" blog spoofed "Ethical Oil's" depiction of the oil sands as morally superior, likening calling the oilsands "ethical product" to calling asbestos and tobacco ethical products.

 
But NASA climatologist James Hansen has referred to the oilsands as "a carbon bomb." And author and 350.org founder Bill McKibben has said it is "game over" for the planet if exploration of the oilsands continues.
 
 

 

 

 

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