By Celsias Team
Posted on Sept. 14, 2010. Listed in:
The New Zealand premiere of hard hitting Canadian documentary H2Oil is to be held later this month in a bid to raise awareness of the devastating human and environmental consequences of the extraction of oil from the tar sands in Northern Alberta Canada. And it looks well worth a watch.
The area to be potentially destroyed by the extraction is the size of Florida and the toxic ponds are so big you can see them from space.
The establishment of Alberta’s Athabasca oil sands means that Canada is now the biggest oil supplier to the United States. According to the Government of Alberta website, Alberta's Oil Sands is the second largest source of oil in the world after Saudi Arabia.
“Through responsible development, advancement of technology and significant investment, the Government of Alberta in conjunction with industry seeks to enhance Alberta's role as a world-leading energy supplier,” says the Government website.
But “responsible development” is a far cry from what the film describes as “a process so toxic it has become an international cause for concern”.
“Four barrels of glacier-fed spring water are used to process each barrel of oil, then are dumped, laden with carcinogens, into leaky tailings ponds so huge they can be seen from space. Downstream, the people of Fort Chipewyan are already paying the price for what will be one of the largest industrial projects in history,” says says h2Oil.com’s Gisèle Gordon.
“In a time when wars are fought over oil and a crisis looms over access to clean fresh water, which resource is more precious? And what price are we willing to pay?"
The film is being screened by Students for Environmental Action and Amnesty International.
What: H2Oil
When: Tuesday September 21, 7.00pm
Where: Teachers College Auditorium, Union Street East, Duedin.
Watch the trailer below.
Can this movie be downloaded online? And if so, where?
Written in September 2010