UN Climate Summit & Canada's Oil Sands
The United Nations is holding a summit with more than 80 countries participating. If you recall, the UN headquarters is in New York City, which is in the United States. The US President is not participating in the summit, but California's Governator Schwartzenegger is. California is the world's 5th lrgest economy, so I guess that makes sense.
Bush is holding his own gathering later in the week - presumably to discuss his "stick-your-head-in-the-sand" strategy to dealing with global warming. And when we say "sand," we are of course refering to the vast oil sand fields in Alberta Canada where oil companies are pulling oil out of the sand...
Canada's oil sands region is considered second only to Saudia Arabian oil reserves. The problem is, that instead of setting up wells and drawing the oil up from underground, the oil is obtained by digging up the land and then wringing the oil out of the sandy soil.
So why is this info on my global warming blog. Well, there was a piece on 60 Minutes last year about the project. Quoting from their story: "Creating energy from oil sands requires so much energy that the oil companies wind up spiking greenhouse gas emissions.
"'And they do it in volumes that exceed any other production of oil crude anywhere on the planet,' says Elizabeth May, the director of the Sierra Club of Canada.
"She takes issue not only with what the oil sands are doing to the atmosphere, but to the land. The oil companies, environmentalists say, are digging up an entire province. Take a helicopter ride over the mines and you’ll think you’re flying over the moon after a moonquake."
And this from the Wall Street Journal: "In northern Alberta, the oil-sands boom is remaking the landscape. The mining operations have clear-cut thousands of acres of trees and dug 200-foot-deep pits. The region is dotted with large man-made lakes filled with leftover waste from the mining operations. To chase off migratory birds, propane cannons go off at random intervals and scarecrows stand guard on floating barrels."
There is a short narrated photo journal at the Washington Post that explains the economics of mining oil sand.
Bush is holding his own gathering later in the week - presumably to discuss his "stick-your-head-in-the-sand" strategy to dealing with global warming. And when we say "sand," we are of course refering to the vast oil sand fields in Alberta Canada where oil companies are pulling oil out of the sand...Canada's oil sands region is considered second only to Saudia Arabian oil reserves. The problem is, that instead of setting up wells and drawing the oil up from underground, the oil is obtained by digging up the land and then wringing the oil out of the sandy soil.
So why is this info on my global warming blog. Well, there was a piece on 60 Minutes last year about the project. Quoting from their story: "Creating energy from oil sands requires so much energy that the oil companies wind up spiking greenhouse gas emissions.
"'And they do it in volumes that exceed any other production of oil crude anywhere on the planet,' says Elizabeth May, the director of the Sierra Club of Canada.
"She takes issue not only with what the oil sands are doing to the atmosphere, but to the land. The oil companies, environmentalists say, are digging up an entire province. Take a helicopter ride over the mines and you’ll think you’re flying over the moon after a moonquake."
And this from the Wall Street Journal: "In northern Alberta, the oil-sands boom is remaking the landscape. The mining operations have clear-cut thousands of acres of trees and dug 200-foot-deep pits. The region is dotted with large man-made lakes filled with leftover waste from the mining operations. To chase off migratory birds, propane cannons go off at random intervals and scarecrows stand guard on floating barrels."
There is a short narrated photo journal at the Washington Post that explains the economics of mining oil sand.
Comments