Beyond the Bubble

Few Americans seem to know about the Canadian government, people or history. While Americans may not know the name of our current prime minister, they are however becoming increasingly aware of the impact that Canada’s climate policies are having on the global community. In recent months pressure has mounted on the Canadian government to clean up one of the largest sources of oil production in the country, the tar sands in Alberta.

The tar sands, or oil sands as they are often referred to, are a naturally occurring source of crude oil located under the ground. There are three major deposits spanning an area of 140,200 square kilometers in Alberta. Canada has one of the largest proven crude oil reserves in the world, second only to Saudi Arabia. It is estimated that the tar sands contain enough oil to meet Canada’s current oil demand for the next 400 years. The oil however, is not just being extracted to meet the demands of domestic citizens. Canada is the United State’s main supplier of crude oil, and provides the nation with 20 percent of its supply.

Though the Canadian government touts the project as a necessary part of the nation’s energy plan, many remain skeptical of the adverse environmental side effects. In order to extract the usable crude oil from the tar sands, an energy-intensive process must occur, wherein the oil in the tar sands must be converted from a form called bitumen (in which the oil is combined with sand and water) to a usable form. It is estimated that the this process produces 40 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, which is more than all of the cars in Canada combined. According to Greenpeace, two tons of tar sand is needed to produce a single barrel of oil, and three to five times more water and energy are required to produce a barrel than any other known oil source.

Greenpeace has also noted the detrimental impact the project has had on the rivers surrounding the tar sands, as well as the adverse side effects on the air quality and forests in Alberta. Studies have also noted higher than usual rates of cancer in First Nations communities near the tar sands, raising questions about the social and health costs associated with the project.

According to Greenpeace, “Because of the tar sands, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions have grown more since 1990 than those of any other G8 nation.”

The government of Alberta has produced a comprehensive series of provincially funded studies into the impacts of the tar sands, but these studies seem to produce results conflicting with those of independent studies.

The Canadian federal government has been largely unresponsive to criticism from the international community. Political support in Alberta in recent years has been mainly devoted to politicians who pursue policies that increase the economic growth of the province.  Such support is detrimental to the global community. The remedy seems twofold. First, Canadian citizens must put pressure on the national government to increase the surveillance of the impacts of the tar sands. Second, the global community must apply pressure to the federal and provincial governments and shame them into action. If the initiative to be green will not come from the inside, that it must be forced out by other countries willing to take a stronger stance on climate change. No country is blameless on this issue.