(London, UK) – Five indigenous representatives from Canada’s First Nations joined the Camp for Climate Action this month in London to stop the tar sands development in Alberta. The camp is a large gathering for environmental justice activists to draw attention to major carbon emitters and will act as a base for direct action.
Although the tar sands are happening in Canada, they are also being driven from London’s Square Mile. Shell is heavily committed, and BP took a significant stake in 2007. Both companies are financially backed by pension funds from the UK. Meanwhile London’s investment banks, such as Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC, have helped finance a wide range of tar sands projects. This has prompted Canadian First Nations to begin forging partnerships with UK campaigners, to internationalize their campaign for a complete tar sands moratorium.
Currently the tar sands are processing 2.7 million barrels per day of oil, and this is estimated to increase by 2030 to 6 million barrels per day. The water-intensive extraction process is creating lakes of toxic waste so huge that they are visible from space and are more polluting than traditional oil sources.
“Tar sands is the largest industrial project in the world and it is also the dirtiest. Tar sands produce three times as much CO2 per barrel as conventional oil and there’s enough under the ground to push us over the edge into runaway climate change. It should be everyone’s concern,” explained Lionel Lepine, of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. If the Tar Sands continue in this direction it will be impossible for Canada to keep to its Kyoto commitments.
The Indigenous Environmental Network is coordinating the visit, in partnership with people
from the Camp for Climate Action.
Discover more from thegreenpages
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
