After reading An Athabasca Story and viewing the photo essay on the Alberta Tar Sands I was shocked at what I read. An Athabasca Story is an actual reality because up in Canada these tar sands are dug up and cleaned out until it is just bitumen. The production of extracting bitumen from these sands produces 3-4 times more green house gas emissions than regular oil. The smell of this process is horrendous as well, even An Athabasca Story mentions how horrific the smell is, “And the smell! It was worse than his most sulfurous farts, the ones he got when he ate moose guts and antlers. It was like being trapped in a bag with something dead” (Cariou 70). But upon learning about these tar sands I thought, how much is the emission of these carbon and green house gases really affecting the rest of the globe?
One large and important part of the world is being affected by all the carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia is deteriorating at a surprisingly quick pace. The article Top 10 Places Already Affected By Climate Change discusses how the oceans have absorbed a third of the gases produced by the industrial revolution. Since the oceans have absorbed these gases the water has completely shifted the pH scale and the sea animals are able to feel these affects. Ocean water is becoming warmer and the coral reefs are being bleached and starting to die off. Once the coral starts dying off fish and other sea life will start to as well. And once fish start going a chain reaction will begin to occur. At what point will it be our time to die off?
