http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day
"Earth Day is an annual day on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection. Earth Day is observed on April 22 each year. The April 22 date was designated as International Mother Earth Day by a consensus resolution adopted by the United Nations in 2009.[1] Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network,[2] and is celebrated in more than 192 countries every year.[3]
The name and concept of Earth Day was pioneered by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. He proposed March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This day of nature's equipoise was later sanctioned in a Proclamation signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations. A month later a separate Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970.
While this April 22 Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organization launched by Denis Hayes, who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations.[4][5] Numerous communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues."
To use a very tired cliche, but one that we here at the A.P.R. really mean, every day is Earth Day for us. Which is to say we are always focused on concerned about threats to our local, national, and global environment. That will cause degradation in the ability of the natural world to nurture and sustain all beings sustainably, now and well after we have passed on.
Of all the major destructive industrial activities ongoing on this continent, and indeed, throughout the World, one stands out as posing the greatest threat of real, significant environmental degradation, in North America, and because of the CO2 emissions released by it, for the whole globe. The mining of the Alberta Tar Sands. Oil sequestered in the form of bitumen in the subsurface layers, which must be physically dug out (after the over-lying boreal forest is removed), processed with large amounts of steam, water, and chemicals, in order to end up with "diluted bitumen". A caustic thick sludge, which must be forced through pipelines at much higher temperatures and pressures than regular oil. Which can lead to greater likelihood of pipeline corrosion, ruptures, and spills. As was seen in Arkansas a few weeks ago.
Besides being so physically polluting and destructive in the Tar Sands mining process, it is highly inefficient. That is to say, it takes the equivalent of 80 barrels of oils to recover 100, so there is only a net gain of 20 barrels. And in the entire mining/liquidification process, tremendous amounts of CO2 (at least 3 times more than "conventional" oil production!) and methane are released due to the necessity of having to recover the oil from the sands. So much so that reknowned NASA climatologist Dr. James Hansen has said the mining and recovery of Tar Sands "oil" would be "game over" for the ability of a stable global climate to be maintained.
With all that, and the serious threat that the Tar Sands development represents, we think everyone should actually see what this looks like, on the ground, and in near real-time. This Alternet article has a great slide series, showing just how destructive and polluting the Tar Sands developments are. Please give it a look and read, this is the face of greed and environmental destruction which will affect your and your descendant's future.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/tar-sands-worse-you-can-imagine-incredible-images-you-have-see
Tar Sands Is Worse Than You Can Imagine: Incredible Images You Have to See
The Suncor Energy upgrading refinery, on the banks of the Athabasca River.
Photo Credit: Copyrighted image; photographer not disclosed.
Photo Credit: Copyrighted image; photographer not disclosed.
April 15, 2013 |
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.
This article below from 2010 describes the process of having to rebuild roads from the northwestern lower 48 states just to accomodate the huge industrial machinery needed for the Tar Sands mining process. Just one small part of the entire process, which if allowed to continue, would end up being the largest (and most polluting and destructive) industrial project in the World.
In the the article linked below, at least one large investment concern is actually considering pulling out of the fossil fuel industry because of it's destructiveness and unconcern for the future. Interesting. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/04/18
Because it's been known about for some time now about the links between Wall Street and the surge in Shale gas and oil drilling in the midwest and eastern lower states, using hydrofracturing, aka fracking. If these reports are right, which we have no reason to doubt, there is another global hazard, economic, that will have to be faced because of these kinds of energy policies/practices, which are based entirely on greed and short-term decision making.
http://truth-out.org/news/item/14694-reports-shale-gas-bubble-looms-aided-by-wall-street
The Earth is no longer large enough to be able to tolerate these practices, because such huge amounts of CO2 and Methane that are released are accelerating global warming. And each year will see more extreme weather events, especially now that the Arctic ocean will likely be summer sea-ice free within 5-8 years. Which is already being implicated in affecting global climate.
The ramping up of global warming and its ensuing climate chaos, which we've described here on many occasions doesn't have to be as severe as it will likely be. If concerted national and international governmental efforts are undertaken to fully fund and develop alternative energy sources, and ways of removing excess CO2 from the atmosphere.
Something to think about on our Earth Day. Cheers.
