Social Impacts

The climate talks are a stitch-up, as no one is talking about supply.

by George Monbiot

Published in the Guardian (December 11 2007)

Ladies and gentlemen, I have the answer! Incredible as it might seem, I
have stumbled across the single technology which will save us from
runaway climate change! From the goodness of my heart I offer it to you
for free. No patents, no small print, no hidden clauses. Already this
technology, a radical new kind of carbon capture and storage, is causing
a stir among scientists. It is cheap, it is efficient and it can be

Tar Sands vs. Clean Water: Eating the Earth for Cars

by Mark Robinowitz

Global Research, December 11, 2007
oilempire.us

The tar sands production center in northern Alberta in Canada is one of the clearest signs that the easy-to-get oil is on the wane. Tar sands are a low grade hydrocarbon deposit that requires enormous energy input to process and convert it into something resembling petroleum.

from George Poitras

WELL. Below is a link of a documentary that was aired on this past Sunday's
CBC News Sunday. I think its an excellent documentary for a number of
reasons. The Fort Chipewyan residents including former Chief Archie Waquan,
Donna Cyprien (Director of Nunee Health Authority), Georg Macdonald (Head of
Nursing Station), Julie Mercredi (Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Member)
and Pat Marcel (Elder, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation) did an awesome job
of portraying the reality of our current situation. Thanks also to Dr. John

The NRDC, another heavily Pew-funded member of Gang Green, makes these radical demands about the tar sands, in their fact sheet posted on the web-site of the Pew front-group, the International Boreal Conservation Campaign:

"To immediately stem the development under way of tar sands projects in Canada’s Boreal forest, we should support conservation and environmentally sustainable development in the area, including:
- Interconnected network of protected areas and corridors to maintain the ecological integrity of
the Boreal forest and wildlife habitat.

The International Boreal Conservation Campaign (www.interboreal.org) is another front group established by the Pew Charitable Trusts, much like the Canadian Boreal Initiative (www.borealcanada.ca). The Pew family built the original tar sands project, which became Suncor. Although the Pew family no longer owns Suncor, the family company Sunoco continues to refine much synthetic crude oil. This is their non-statement about the tar sands. Of course, no mention about a moratorium or a shut down. After all, Suncor is one of their partners in the Canadian Boreal Initiative.....

Dec 6, 2007 1:00:00 PM MST
TransCanada, Imperial led group to benefit from rumoured Mackenzie restructuring (TransCanada-Mackenzie)

CALGARY _ Analysts say a reworking of the Mackenzie Gas Project will be a boon for all involved, with pipeline operator TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) likely to see major returns and the Imperial Oil-led consortium (TSX:IMO) of producers relieved of much of the cost burdens that have threatened to kill the entire energy project.

Rethinking the Implications of Climate Change and Peak Oil

by Richard Heinberg

MuseLetter #187 / November 2007

Environmental and development NGOs are now fixated on climate change to
the exclusion of nearly every other topic. Discussions in and among
these organizations center on capping carbon emissions and trading
emissions rights, and doing this internationally in a way that will be
deemed equitable by the global South and acceptable to the industrial
Northern countries.

Most of these policy organizations are seeking ways of implementing

It's the Tar Sands, Stupid
PM Harper: Bali ballyhoo.
Canada home to global warming's new ground zero.
By Mitchell Anderson
Published: December 4, 2007
email this article print this story
TheTyee.ca

You can't practice abstinence while running a brothel. Yet politicians of almost all stripes talk simultaneously about developing the Alberta oil sands while getting serous about reducing carbon emissions. Sound like a crock? It is.

Petrocan chief backs oil sands despite royalties
Overall viability won't be affected, says CEO Brenneman, but company's conventional oil and gas spending likely to be cut

DAVID EBNER AND NORVAL SCOTT
With files from Canadian Press

November 29, 2007

CALGARY, EDMONTON -- Higher petroleum royalties in Alberta will not hurt the "overall viability" of Petro-Canada oil sands projects, but some planned investment in conventional oil and gas in the province will be affected, chief executive officer Ron Brenneman said yesterday.

Sharply drawn
journalism
Local publishers Cumulus Press combine reportage with comics to take a look
at the mining industry

TAR SANDS EXTRACTION PITS:
From Extraction! A “Comix Reportage”

by CHRISTOPHER HAZOU

Local publishers Cumulus Press launch their first foray into the world of journalism and art this week with Extraction! A “Comix Reportage” about the Canadian mining industry and its effects on people and the environment around the globe.