In class, we talked about the tar pits in Canada. They are obviously terrible for the environment and they help Canada’s GDP immensely, but we didn’t talk about why they are so awful for the environment.

The tar pits excrete oil sands and create a barren wasteland of ugly earth that can be seen from space. The miners not only clear the areas of all life and green, but they destroy the water supply in the surrounding areas. A report about water usage in the mines said, “To produce one cubic metre (m3) of synthetic crude oil (SCO) (upgraded bitumen) in a mining operation requires about 2–4.5 m3 of water (net figures).” The oil sands mining company is currently allowed to divert 359 million m3 of water, more than two times the amount needed for the local city. This is a problem that changes not only the environment in a negative way, but it is hurting the locals in many ways.

The locals are not only unable to fish and hunt, as was mentioned in lecture, but their lively hoods are completely changed by the oil sand pits as well. They are forced to assimilate into the culture that the sands bring with it. That means that they get jobs mining the sand and in production. My question is; is it worth it? Is it worth the jobs? Their lives are completely changed by this monster that comes charging in and seems to destroy everything in its path.

While I might not agree with the politics necessarily, I thought that this was a very interesting video on the tar pits.

It made me think about all the things that they go through up there and how the big companies get away with a lot. It is a problem that needs to be dealt with.

The tar pits create some of the worst pollution in North America. An article about the oil sands stated that they emmitted five to fifteen percent more CO2 than crude oil. Also, about .15 percent of global emissions come from the tar pits in Alberta alone.

We are not to give up hope yet.

“Since 1990,” Alberta’s Energy website said, “oil sands producers reduced per barrel emissions by an average of 26 per cent – some achieved reductions as high as 50 per cent.”

This website gave a lot of strides that the oil companies are trying to make to help the environment, but it is hard to see who to believe. There is so much that is put out there by either side. Both are guilty of choosing their information carefully, as to only benefit their cause, but it is a confusing subject.

I would love to see how the tar pits actually are in real life. While these gigantic machines and displays of human innovation are shown to us through photographs, I do not think it will be easy to figure out how they are until one looks on them with their own eyes. I do not have an opinion on what to do about the pits because they are so controversial, and I hope to learn more about them as we progress through the issue of whether or not the US will continue to take this oil from Canada.

-Zach Bigley