Ethical oil?
Apparently not..
Oil is 'unethical', but the continued use of the oil is not unethical?
Apparently not..
And then there is the perversion of Canadian policy in the service of this development. Canada has not only become one of the world's great sources of carbon – and thus of climate change. Our Conservative government has become one of the principal obstacles to co-ordinated global action to address climate change.
So what is to be done? Let's begin with what is not to be done: That pipeline should not be built.
I suppose that one of the answers is that the production of oil should be highly restricted. We could start by eliminating the transfer of oil to Ottawa as a move to further curb Canada's already miniscule greenhouse gas emissions... At very least, we will succeed in getting the politicians in eating a little crow.
And then we need to have a very large conversation with our energy industry in this country – in the first instance, with the goal of reminding them that they are in this country.
I'd love to be part of that conversation... I see it including a recognition to all of the do-gooders that money talks and bullsh*t walks.
.. If you don't want the oil sands because it offends your fantasies about Utopia, that's fine, but pull all of that GDP off of the table and see what happens to your cherished "free healthcare" and bloated social entitlements... Hell, while we're at it, we might as well crush the mining, forestry and fisheries sector too as they add just as much, if not more, damage to ole Mother Gaia.
Sure, we'd transform ourselves into a third world nation overnight, but think of the satisfaction we'd have in being able to wag our collective fingers at the rest of the world with the self-serving opinion that we are somehow superior to all.
Law Aides Oilsands Foes
CONSERVATIONISTS ON BOTH sides of the border are using an obscure American trade law normally used against whalers to pressure Canada over its management of the entire oilsands industry.
The push comes as protesters continue to fight a pipeline that would bring more oilsands crude from Alberta into the United States. A coalition of American and Canadian environmental groups has filed an application under what’s known as the Pelly amendment, which empowers the U.S. president to impose trade sanctions against any country weakening international efforts to conserve endangered species — in this case woodland caribou, whooping cranes and dozens of other species of migratory birds.
I wonder what the statute of limitations is on revisiting the Pelly Amendment as it applies to the homes/residences of the enviro collation members?.. Clearly, they have irreparably damaged the (former) migratory route of some species by ignorantly building their home on these lands.
Perhaps we can annex their property and return it to nature. They can all live in harmony living off the land, in and amongst the wee critters.