ReturnToTheTarSands

(Dispatch by J.D.)

I’m in northern Alberta in Fort Chipewyan attending the Keepers of the Water conference on how the  the water, wildlife, and aboriginal communities are being harmed downstream from Canada’s great environmental crime scene, the tar sands (the linked article is particularly good)

It’s amazing to be in such a strong community that is fighting for its life. The cancer rates have dramatically increased in the last few years. The people here are getting stonewalled in their requests for full water testing and a baseline health survey of area. Everyday I keep hearing stories of how people can’t hunt and fish in their traditional grounds like they used to. Mutant fish are being caught and there are fewer birds. Collaborating with other affected communities in the MacKenzie River Basin they have put on a three day conference, the Keepers of the Water.

Many of you may feel too far away to do anything but you can. Most tar sands oil goes to the U.S. and much of that goes to the military. By working for peace and a renewable energy economy in the future and  reducing excess consumption of oil today you can reduce the demand which is fueling this madness in the north. Contact your political representatives and tell them you don’t want the dirtiest oil available to be part of your local energy mix. Sign the petition opposing expansion of the tar sands.

I’ll end with an image that sprang to mind as I listened to the Circle of Sharing the evening before the conference started. Imagine a moose drinking Dasani/Aquafina/Pure Death bottled water. When you go past the absurdity of it (given the lack of opposible thumbs), a more frightening realization hits: wildlife do not have to options of us rich humans. A moose can’t buy clean water or move away to a cleaner home or campaign for recognition of their innate rights. Only humans can make those choices but we usually seem to make the wrong ones.

 

You can see some pictures on my Flickr account.

<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/katakanadian/2768065181/” title=”Wayward Olympic cyclist realizes she’s not in Beijing anymore by katakanadian, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3139/2768065181_177b60a085.jpg” width=”500″ height=”375″ alt=”Wayward Olympic cyclist realizes she’s not in Beijing anymore” /></a>

Filed under: Climate Change, RTTTS on August 18th, 2008