Things are changing in Alberta and I don't mean poor Ralph Klein and the new leadership race. I am talking about the landscape. High fuel costs have destroyed the hopes of environmentalists who believed people would conserve their gasoline once the price reached a dollar per litre but in fact people are driving the same and it has made alternative sources of oil, which had been considered to costly to exploit, now economically feasable.
Enter the Alberta Tar Sands. It is a very expensive process to extract the oil from the sands. Basically, the oily goo is shoveled into a large washing machine that adds water and seperates the oil. This process produces three times the amount of greenhouse gases that normal oil extraction creates. The oil then comes out one way, solids another and the water is removed from the machine as well. This water is dirty and full of chemical mess and is dumped into large man-made lakes that are popping up all over Alberta now. These poison lakes have no real cleanup strategy and will evaporate to make harsh chemical laced rain.
It is unclear what sort of ecological effects this rain will have on crops and surrounding nature, but it's a fair assumption that no good can come of it. The Alberta government acknowledges that there is some ecological drawbacks to their newfound winfall, but claim that the opportunity outweighs the drawbacks. Unfortunately, this is a onetime gamble that could ravage the earth and sky.
Further to this, much of the oil extracted in this way is being exported to the United States. Most people now have come to realize that there is a finite amount of oil in the world. The tarsands are thought to have enough to fuel the globe for five years, and the it will be exhausted. While I do sympathize with the needs of other countries, it seems very short sighted to take a resource that is so necessary to society and sell it off to the highest bidder.
Now I know you are thinking that this is for the birds. Don't worry, they are nowhere near the sites. Propane shots and scarecrows have been put into place disrupting migration patterns and jeapordizing the future of these flocks.
Yes things are changing in Alberta. Is the change positive? Is it ever? Ask Ralph Klein.
Be well my friends,
Enter the Alberta Tar Sands. It is a very expensive process to extract the oil from the sands. Basically, the oily goo is shoveled into a large washing machine that adds water and seperates the oil. This process produces three times the amount of greenhouse gases that normal oil extraction creates. The oil then comes out one way, solids another and the water is removed from the machine as well. This water is dirty and full of chemical mess and is dumped into large man-made lakes that are popping up all over Alberta now. These poison lakes have no real cleanup strategy and will evaporate to make harsh chemical laced rain.
It is unclear what sort of ecological effects this rain will have on crops and surrounding nature, but it's a fair assumption that no good can come of it. The Alberta government acknowledges that there is some ecological drawbacks to their newfound winfall, but claim that the opportunity outweighs the drawbacks. Unfortunately, this is a onetime gamble that could ravage the earth and sky.
Further to this, much of the oil extracted in this way is being exported to the United States. Most people now have come to realize that there is a finite amount of oil in the world. The tarsands are thought to have enough to fuel the globe for five years, and the it will be exhausted. While I do sympathize with the needs of other countries, it seems very short sighted to take a resource that is so necessary to society and sell it off to the highest bidder.
Now I know you are thinking that this is for the birds. Don't worry, they are nowhere near the sites. Propane shots and scarecrows have been put into place disrupting migration patterns and jeapordizing the future of these flocks.
Yes things are changing in Alberta. Is the change positive? Is it ever? Ask Ralph Klein.
Be well my friends,
fatality:
I am always astounded when people pay such close attention to things I know nothing about.
mystic:
I must live my life with my eyes closed! I never know about this sort of stuff!xx