Maybe it’s something in the English genes. The British industrial revolution marks the beginning of an imbalance in the carbon cycle. And, descendants on two other continents continue such a heritage. The United States leads with the greatest carbon emissions (per head); Australia is a leading exporter of coal; and, Canada has Alberta.
Mordor? No, Athabasca and Utah not quite yet.
Boulder Treehugger Rachel Cernansky warns that, as global sources of lighter crude become scarcer, Canada and the U.S. are shifting toward heavier forms of crude oil. Another euphemism is unconventional fossil fuels. This blog has used terms like bitumen, oil sands and tar sands, and warned readers before of greater degradation of air, land and water.
Alberta is now producing 1.5 million barrels of oil sands production each day, which is forecast to rise to 3.8 million barrels a day by 2020. The Canadian plutocracy seems forsworn to global devastation as much as its neighbor to the South and will continue with extraction that makes three times the greenhouse gas emissions of conventional oil. It causes tremendous amounts* of toxic water pollution, and threatens wildlife.
* 18,041,400 gallons a day flows into tailings ponds.
Related articles
- Canadian Government Report Predicts a Tar Sands Oil Boom (geteconow.com)
- Canada’s attempt to block U.S. carbon regulations (climateprogress.org)
- Royal Society of Canada releases report on environmental and health impacts of oil sands industry (greencarcongress.com)
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