AlterNet
is teaming up with the Post Carbon Institute to bring you mind-blowing
images and stories that will inspire you to take action.
The Suncor Energy upgrading refinery, on the banks of the Athabasca River.
Photo Credit: Copyrighted image; photographer not disclosed.
April 15, 2013
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Post Carbon Institute and Alternet have partnered to shed a powerful light on the true costs of our addiction to fossil fuels, starting with the Alberta tar sands .
Every powerful photo is linked to three meaningful actions that you can take right now to fight back against tar sands mining. We need your help getting the word out; please take a look at the images, take a stand , and share far and wide with your friends, colleagues and neighbors.
The mining of the Alberta tar sands is the biggest
industrial project on earth and quite possibly the world's most
environmentally destructive. The visuals are hard to stomach, but the
story is an important one to tell.
As conventional oil and gas
deplete,
the energy industry must resort to unconventional resources that are
more expensive, more technically challenging to access, and pose far
greater risks to ecosystems and communities than ever before. The result
is destruction on an unprecedented level.
The tar sands tale is told frame by frame in the
image deck,
guiding us from the clear-cutting of pristine Boreal forest and
creation of vast open-pit mines all the way to the pipelines that
transport diluted bitumen across the continent.
The connection between the astounding environmental destruction taking place in Canada and the debate over approval of the Keystone XL pipeline here in the US
is clear. As the recent rupture of the Pegasus Pipeline in Arkansas
makes abundantly clear, the transport of diluted bitumen from Alberta
via pipelines to oil refineries thousands of miles away poses
unacceptable environmental risks.
As important, the Keystone XL Pipeline is a key litmus
test for the Obama Administration and the country as a whole. And the
rest of the world is watching.
Although the Canadian tar sands contribute a small
percentage of total global oil production and the Keystone XL Pipeline
is just one of many contested fossil fuel projects in the world (in
fact, First Nations and thousands of other Canadians are fighting an
equally dangerous tar sands pipeline, the Northern Gateway Pipeline),
this decision by President Obama is a keystone of a different kind -
representing the kind of energy future we want for ourselves and our
loved ones.
For that reason, it's not mere hyperbole to say that this is a life and death decision.
We're reaching out to you to speak up against the Keystone XL Pipeline by sharing these images with your friends, family, and neighbors, and by clicking on one of the calls to action associated with each image.
Stay tuned as PCI and Alternet unveil our next collaborate visual effort in the coming weeks.
Leslie Moyer is the Energy Reality Campaign Director for Post Carbon Institute.
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