Alberta under attack in new ad campaign

[capitalist]

We all know there have been mistakes made in the oilsands, but they are on the road to improving there practises and creating better standards. This add makes about as much sense as saying people shoud not visit Saskatchewan and eat food anymore casue farmers use big machinery that create GHG's, we can go back to the horse and plow, but then people will starve; and then they would wine about the cruelty of animals and such, it is all nonsense.

[kw5150]

Why dont we make a video of the whole south coast of the USA? Because we are better than that. How about boycotting Arizona, Nevada and California for their irrisposible use of water and destroying ecosystems? How about Boycotting Tenesse and Kentucky for using 3-4 times more power than the average household?

We dont because we are not Hypocrites. I love how people just point fingers and then do NOTHING to change how they live..... We get oil from the ocean.....or we get it from the oilsands...... that is the reality right now. I do like the fact that there is a large group of people that care for the environment but..... COME ON!

These videos should actually portray our wasteful society in general and how we need to resort to disgusting methods to extract oil.

What a Joke. Go America, the largest mass of hypocrites on the planet! Dont they burn oil and coal for half of their power down there?

I say boycott the entire USA. Ok, that is a little extreme..... lol

[ue]

^Very well said. Like I said earlier, I think this is just to make them feel better about the BP Oil Spill going on right now. The Syncrude case was atrocious but it will never be as bad as the environmental damage being done in the Gulf of Mexico. If the people putting out these ads really cared, they'd be pushing for Americans to get off their addiction to oil and stop buying our oil. Having less tourists to Banff or Edmonton or Calgary or Drumheller isn't going to stop the oilsands development. Taking a trip to Orlando or New York will still be using fossil fuels, and a good chance that came from Alberta. Why not advocate for stopping the airline industry if they really cared? Trying to stop tourism to Alberta won't help. And unless Americans get off their addiction to oil, they can have fun trying to figure out how to get all the oil they will no longer be getting if they decide to boycott Canadian or Albertan oil.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by Doug

"Partially" means straining out large solids, except during big rainstorms. Outside AB and SK, Canada has almost third world standards for waste water treatment.

In some places, yes. Water treatment here is fine for the most part, though not on the same level as Calgary (though the Bow is far more environmentally fragile than Lake Ontario). The only time raw sewage from Toronto gets dumped into the lake is after a heavy storm because of older combined sewers, some of which are over 100 years old and others dating from the immediate post-war period. It's also something that's being rectified, though quite slowly due to the costs and difficulty of upgrading sewer systems in a major urban area. From what I know Montreal is in the same boat. FWIW most of the beaches in Toronto currently meet the highest international standards for water quality, though this wasn't the case even a decade ago.




As to the topic at hand, it's certainly a bit silly to propose a boycott on tourism because of the oil sands - not exactly an effective strategy. But dismissing the situation with the "well, you have environmental problems where you are too" argument isn't exactly constructive, you know? I look at the oil sands as something that will be developed regardless. We just have to make sure this happens in the least intrusive way possible, which it certainly isn't at this point (granted though, it could be far worse).

[Jay in Cowtown]

I'm fine with being environmentally responsible, I mean the days of oil companies covering an oil spill with some gravel needed to end... but my hatred for extremist environmentalists goes beyond anything legal... just shut the fuck up, take another hit of your bong and find a friendlier voice in your head! Us normal people will keep going to work and keep paying your bills, don't worry!

[vid]

Originally Posted by Jay in Cowtown

I'm fine with being environmentally responsible, I mean the days of oil companies covering an oil spill with some gravel needed to end... but my hatred for extremist environmentalists goes beyond anything legal... just shut the fuck up, take another hit of your bong and find a friendlier voice in your head! Us normal people will keep going to work and keep paying your bills, don't worry!

People like you are just as bad as they are.

"in my humble opinion just a thought"

[Jay in Cowtown]

Originally Posted by vid

People like you are just as bad as they are.

"in my humble opinion just a thought"

Oh, why's that?

[wild wild west]

I agree that pressure needs to be maintained on the oilsands to constantly improve their processes and minimize their environmental impact, and in many ways improvement is being shown. What really bugs me is the way in which the oilsands are being "singled out" when there are so many euqally or more eggregious examples of wanton environmental devastation both in North America and around the World.

I happened to read the Globe and Mail article on this topic, and in the comments section, a good number of dumbasses from other parts of Canada who make asshat comments about Alberta complete with sweeping generalizations, while ignoring the messes in their own back yard, make me want to lay a beatdown.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by Jay in Cowtown

I'm fine with being environmentally responsible, I mean the days of oil companies covering an oil spill with some gravel needed to end... but my hatred for extremist environmentalists goes beyond anything legal... just shut the fuck up, take another hit of your bong and find a friendlier voice in your head! Us normal people will keep going to work and keep paying your bills, don't worry!

Fun fact: many of the people you probably consider "extremist environmentalists" do in fact go to work and pay their bills. Some of them even started their own consulting firms. Quelle horreur

Originally Posted by wild wild west

I happened to read the Globe and Mail article on this topic, and in the comments section, a good number of dumbasses from other parts of Canada who make asshat comments about Alberta complete with sweeping generalizations, while ignoring the messes in their own back yard, make me want to lay a beatdown.

I wouldn't worry about it, or any comments made on news articles on the internet. I read the Globe online daily and pretty much any article has someone from elsewhere in Canada bitching and moaning about something they know little about. Whether it's about the oilsands or the inevitable complaint on *any* Globe Toronto article about bringing in the army. These things happen, particularly online.

[freeweed]

Yeah, at least bringing in the army didn't generate much excess CO2. Well, beyond the collective guffawing of an entire country.

C'mon, you totally set me up.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Yeah, at least bringing in the army didn't generate much excess CO2. Well, beyond the collective guffawing of an entire country.

C'mon, you totally set me up.

Yes, yes I suppose I did..... dammit.

[francely57]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

So does all your money...




Edit: This post is a joke and does in no way reflect the actual opinions of Bigtime.

Haha, well said...


Concerning equalization, does anyone know how much of QC's cheque comes from AB?
Anyway, even if the entire money came from Alberta, it's about 8.5 Billion, which is probably equivalent to Longueuil's GDP (pop 240,000)


(Greater Montreal's GDP is around 160 Billion, QC's is around 280 Billion)




BTW, once QC starts fully exploiting its gas resources, is it possible that the 2 provinces become best friends and collaborate against common ennemies??

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by francely57

BTW, once QC starts fully exploiting its gas resources, is it possible that the 2 provinces become best friends and collaborate against common ennemies??

Poutine and beef power combine! Form of...HEART ATTACK!

[wild wild west]

Originally Posted by niwell

I wouldn't worry about it, or any comments made on news articles on the internet. I read the Globe online daily and pretty much any article has someone from elsewhere in Canada bitching and moaning about something they know little about. Whether it's about the oilsands or the inevitable complaint on *any* Globe Toronto article about bringing in the army. These things happen, particularly online.

Well, you do have a point there. For whatever reason, that particular forum brings out the absolute worst in people, particular with regard to regional tensions.

[kw5150]

Originally Posted by Jay in Cowtown

I'm fine with being environmentally responsible, I mean the days of oil companies covering an oil spill with some gravel needed to end... but my hatred for extremist environmentalists goes beyond anything legal... just shut the fuck up, take another hit of your bong and find a friendlier voice in your head! Us normal people will keep going to work and keep paying your bills, don't worry!

Ah.... screw it..... there's no point in responding to that.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Poutine and beef power combine! Form of...HEART ATTACK!

Twin power!

[francely57]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Poutine and beef power combine! Form of...HEART ATTACK!

QC & AB



http://diptogo.com/2009/04/03/5-popular-japanese-fast-food-restaurants-for-burgers/

[waterloowarrior]

U.S. group backpedals on 'Rethink Alberta' anti-oilsands campaign
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/group+backpedals+anti+oilsands+campaign/3288701/story.html

BY JASON FEKETE, CALGARY HERALD JULY 16, 2010 10:02 PM

CALGARY — The Alberta government and energy sector are claiming a rare public relations victory, after the group leading an anti-oilsands campaign said its advertising contained inaccurate information and will be corrected.

Corporate Ethics International, the San Francisco-based environmental organization that launched a billboard and online campaign this week attacking the oilsands and urging Americans not to visit Alberta, admitted its video overstated the size of the resource and its potential ecological damage.

The group blamed the misinformation on an "editing error" in the online video, explaining the mistake was fixed, the video re-posted to its website and that the ad blitz will continue undeterred.
...........................

The original Corporate Ethics video declared the oilsands "are destroying an area twice the size of England."

While the video was edited to say half that amount, the information still isn't completely accurate because it refers to the size of oilsands deposits and not the actual amount of land disturbed by open-pit mine development.

Stelmach and CAPP have both noted the actual area being mined is about 600 square kilometres, less than one per cent of what was initially claimed by the ad.

Hantiuk argued the latest environmental campaign is built like a house of cards because it contains erroneous information. "You pull that one card out and the whole house falls," he said.

The Alberta government also disputes other information contained in the video and billboards, including that oilsands production generates three times as many greenhouse gases as conventional crude. It points to studies that show the total life cycle emissions of oilsands development is comparable to other petroleum, when factors like overseas transport, truck hauling and refining are factored in.

The province also rejects the video's claims that "Every day, the tarsands leak nearly three million gallons of poison into the water system." It maintains there has been no detected leak from a tailings pond as of yet, and that environmental regulations demand oilsands operators build the collection pools in a manner that prevents leaks.

[freeweed]

Stelmach and CAPP have both noted the actual area being mined is about 600 square kilometres, less than one per cent of what was initially claimed by the ad.

And this is why it's so hard to take so many environmentalists seriously. Which is unfortunate, because the cause is a good one. But so many outright knowingly LIE about things.

[Jay in Cowtown]

Originally Posted by kw5150

Ah.... screw it..... there's no point in responding to that.

lol! this forum has too many 20 something bleeding heart hippies and not enough old rednecks like myself... then again old rednecks arent supposed to know how to run a computer, just kill horses at Rodeos.