Home/Posts Tagged ‘Alberta’
Posts Tagged ‘Alberta’
Politics, Pollution, Jun 18th, 2012,
In the ‘Great White North’ money and jobs are worth the price of regular oil spills, fires and pollution. At least that seems to be the opinion of the Canadian government, the Alberta government, the fossil fuel industry and others, including many who work for the oil business. Otherwise plans for mega pipelines to the US and Pacific coast might be deterred by the many oil leaks like the one that recently occurred in a tributary of the Red Deer River, resulting in the closure of Gleniffer Lake, a reservoir and recreation center northwest of Calgary. The spill is estimated…
Tags: Alberta, oil spill, pipeline
Climate Change, Politics, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Jun 5th, 2012,
As controversial as the Keystone XL pipeline is, it could get worse. Now Canadian PM Stephen Harper is looking to sell Alberta tar sands oil to China, which would involve another massive pipeline to carry the oil west to the Pacific coast. The problem is the pipeline would cross some pristine wilderness and that is a worrying prospect to environmentalists and anyone who gives a damn about not polluting heavily, destroying nature, etc. What’s more is that in order to expedite oil extraction and exportation Harper is rewriting Canada’s environmental regulations. From the Washington Post: The government has added…
Tags: Alberta, Canada, China, Pacific, pipeline, tar sands
Climate Change, Politics, Mar 6th, 2012,
Canada is famous for ice hockey. That, maple syrup and being a nicer, cleaner version of the United States. But real, traditional ice hockey, played outdoors on frozen lakes and ponds, may become a thing of the past due to climate change. Of course, nowadays expensive, energy-consuming technology makes weather obsolete. I mean, even the state of Florida has two ice hockey teams. Winter sports have really taken off in the Sunshine State. But way up north some traditional winter sports are on thin ice, with winter temperatures in some parts of Canada not allowing sufficient ice formation. And climate…
Tags: Alberta, Canada, Climate change, greenhouse gas, hockey, ice hockey, tar sands
Climate Change, Politics, Pollution, Feb 20th, 2012,
The oil reserves of the Canadian province of Alberta are second in size only to those of Saudi Arabia. They are also more polluting and expensive to extract. In response to the European Union’s plans to label oil imports from Alberta’s tar sands as ‘highly polluting’, which they are, Canada has threatened a ‘trade war’ with Europe. Recent revelations of collusion between the UK and Canadian governments with fossil fuel companies who source their oil from the tar sands show plans to use underhanded tactics to mitigate any damage to the ‘Canadian brand’ of oil. In short, they’d like to…
Tags: Alberta, Canada, EU, Europe, oil, pipeline, tar sands
Climate Change, Politics, Pollution, Oct 7th, 2010,
Members of the Cree Nation have come to London in order to draw attention to the plight of their native lands in Canada. Alberta, Canada’s oil sands or ‘tar sands’ are the world’s largest deposits of bitumen, a heavy, black form of crude oil, previously considered too costly and difficult to extract. Yet with pressure to get off ‘foreign’ oil and the high fuel prices of the last decade, extracting bitumen via surface mining has become more economically viable, despite its high environmental and human costs. What’s happening in Alberta is shocking when witnessed: dirty stretches of smoking wasteland, dotted…
Tags: Alberta, bitumen, Canada, Cree, oil, oil sands, tar sands
Videos & Documentaries, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, May 8th, 2010,
Rachel Maddow shows off her Google Earth skills and zeros in on that gigantic beaver dam that is so big it is visible from space. The dam is located in Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta, Canada and is larger than the Hoover Dam. I wrote about the dam on Wednesday and have since seen and heard a few obvious puns such as the one below courtesy of Rachel and msnbc. No ‘leave it to beaver’ jokes yet, however. Rachel Maddow Show: Dam! Beavers live up to “eager reputation” Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the…
Tags: Alberta, beaver, dam, Google Earth, Maddow, Rachel, space
Climate Change, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, May 5th, 2010,
A massive beaver dam discovered in the forests of Northern Alberta, Canada is the world’s largest. So big that it is visible from space, the dam – located in Alberta’s Wood Buffalo National Park – measures 2,790 feet (850 meters) long. Known as ‘nature’s builders’, beavers construct dams out of mud, stone and timber in order to give themselves still, deep water for access to food and protection from predators. Beavers also build lodges within the calm waters created by the dams. The lodges have two rooms: one for drying off and one for living. Since beavers are nocturnal, they…
Tags: Alberta, beaver, beavers, Canada, dam, dams, lodges, space, visible
Climate Change, Politics, Mar 1st, 2010,
British companies with financial ties to Canada’s controversial tar sands oil operations will face considerable pressure this week from UK environmental lobbies and investors with ethical concerns. The tar sands of Alberta, Canada are the world’s largest deposits of bitumen, a heavy, black form of crude oil extracted via surface mining. Generally considered to be of more harm to the environment than conventional oil drilling, tar sand mining has taken a heavy toll on Alberta’s air, land, water, wildlife and people. According to an article in the Guardian, ethical and environmental groups opposed to British investment in the tar sands…
Tags: Alberta, British, Canada, Co-operative, environmental, ethical, Fair Pensions, Guardian, mining, oil, tar sands, UK
Climate Change, Nature, Feb 17th, 2010,
The Canadian province of Alberta is home to a particularly dirty kind of oil field: so called ‘Tar Sands’. The world’s largest source of bitumen – a heavy, black form of crude oil extracted by surface mining – is located in the northeastern portion of the province. Most of the oil mined from Canada’s tar sands is destined for refineries in the United States, but with American companies shying away from the oil sands due to environmental pressure and China moving in, things look to be changing. An article in the Guardian explains: China’s growing investment in the tar sands…
Tags: Alberta, Canada, China, emissions, oil, sands, tar, United States
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Sep 1st, 2009,
And we thought you were so Green… apparently, not so much. The Alberta Oil Sands or “Tar Sands” are the world’s largest deposits of bitumen, a heavy, black form of crude oil, which can be extracted via surface mining. Thanks to 2003-2007’s record high oil prices, the sands became more commercially viable than ever. Northeastern Alberta is home to 140,000 square kilometers of oil sands, an area larger than England. Oil sand extraction is widely considered to be of more harm to the environment than that of conventional crude oil. Despite huge profits and job creation, the cost to Alberta’s…
Tags: Alberta, Canada, oil sands, TOXIC, VBS
