Top line messages

  • It is time for a reality check. Canadians/Europeans/Americans deserve the truth about the tar sands, and www.tarsandsrealitycheck.com (oilsandsrealitycheck.com) is where they will find it.

  • For the first time, national and international scientists, economists,  academics and experts have joined together to compile, peer-review and deliver the facts everyone needs to know about the tar sands.

  • This digital marketing campaign counters massive and expensive glossy PR campaigns by government and industry that are misinforming the public and decision makers about the tar sands.
  • It’s time to look past the spin. The tar sands are Canada’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gas pollution.

  •  The tar sands are devastating our climate, land, air, water and communities. They are destroying our hope of a clean and sustainable energy future.

  • This campaign, 6 months in the making and signed off on by leading scientists, economists and academics, counters the spin and presents the 25 most important, accurate facts you need to know about the Canadian tar sands. The website describes the impacts of tar sands on our water, land, animals, economy, climate and human rights.
     
  • Groups from Canada, the U.S. and Europe have come to together in a cross-continental effort to present accurate and peer-reviewed facts about the tar sands.

  •  A movement against the reckless expansion of the tar sands is growing. Until real steps are taken to stop the out of control expansion of the tar sands, opposition is only going to get stronger and louder

  •  Information is power, and TarSandsRealityCheck.com (oilsandsrealitycheck.com) gives people and decision makers the information they need about the most destructive project on earth.

 

Issue Specific Messages

Climate

We can’t prevent climate change and keep expanding the tar sands. These are not compatible goals. Unless the tar sands are brought under control, Canada and the world will have no hope of keeping global warming below the promised 2 degrees Celsius. And our future of a safe climate will go up in smoke. Read the climate facts at TarSandsRealityCheck.com (Oilsandsrealitycheck.com)

Water

The reckless expansion of the tar sands is poisoning our water and making us sick. Read  the facts about Canada’s thirstiest industry at TarSandsRealityCheck.com (oilsandsrealitycheck.com)  

Air

The tar sands are polluting our air, far beyond what international regulations say is safe. The impacts are clear. Learn more about the tar sands and air pollution  atTarSandsRealityCheck.com (Oilsandsrealitycheck.com)

Human rights

First Nations are on the front lines of the tar sands. The tar sands have destroyed their land and are making people sick. Unchecked tar sands development affects all of us. Learn how tar sands expansion impacts you at TarSandsRealityCheck.com (Oilsandsrealitycheck.com)  

Economy

Relying on the tar sands for our economic health is like riding a rollercoaster. What goes up can come down – fast. The tar sands are not nearly as much of an economic driver as government and industry say they are. Out of control expansion of the tar sands puts Canadians and our economy at risk. Find out the economic facts at TarSandsRealityCheck.com (Oilsandsrealitycheck.com)  

Land and species

Rapid expansion of the tar sands threatens one of the world’s last great wildlife habitats. It also further endangers species, like the woodland caribou, already facing potential extinction. Damage to the land is extensive and long-lasting. And the restoration or recovery of these spaces will take hundreds, and in some cases thousands of years. Understand the impacts on land and species. Check out TarSandsRealityCheck.com (oilsandsrealitycheck.com)  

  

Via Adrian Raeside

Via Adrian Raeside

“

Opponents of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline are organizing what they’re calling the largest act of peaceful civil disobedience on the oil sands issue in Canada. Greenpeace Canada says a mass sit-in planned for the front lawn of the B.C. legislature in Victoria on Oct. 22 is backed by more than 80 leaders from the business, First Nations, environmental, labour and academic communities across Canada.

The group says those supporters include environmentalist David Suzuki, former Canadian UN ambassador Stephen Lewis, Council of Canadians chair Maude Barlow, lawyer Clayton Ruby, author Naomi Klein and economist Mark Jaccard.

Barlow says the protest is aimed at showing that attempts to gut Canada’s environmental laws and put a price tag on the B.C. coast can’t been done without a public response.

(Source: thestarphoenix.com)

Major protest announced for October 22 in Victoria! This will be a big deal to show how passionate citizens are about stopping these crazy projects. View high resolution

Major protest announced for October 22 in Victoria! This will be a big deal to show how passionate citizens are about stopping these crazy projects.

Angry Michigan Residents Fight Uneven Battle Against Pipeline Project on Their Land

“
Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal is become increasing unpopular across the land, particularly in British Columbia. Indeed only residents of Alberta currently support the project.
— Medicine Hat News.com

(Source: medicinehatnews.com)

“

Six dynamite lines from this Toronto Star article on Gateway:

1) “It’s generally accepted that B.C.’s jurisdiction over land and water would give the province ample power to hold up Enbridge’s project.”

2) Elizabeth May: “I don’t think it will get built because the level of public unrest over this will be sufficient to force Harper out of office.”

3) “The coalition of civil society that is coming together against this is unprecedented in Canada,” observed Karen Wristen, executive director of the Living Oceans Society.

4) Energy stock experts at CIBC World Markets said Northern Gateway faces “ever-increasing political risk” and has no better than a 50/50 chance of being built before the end of the decade.

5) “I personally don’t think Northern Gateway will go through anytime soon or if it ever will,” said Roger McKnight, senior petroleum adviser at Oshawa-based En-Pro International Inc. “There’s just too much politics in the soup and there are too many environmental concerns in the soup and there’s aboriginal rights in the soup and that makes for a pretty unsavory soup.”

6) Asked if the federal government had been caught off guard, McKnight said, “Yeah, they misread the temperature of the water, environmentally and politically.”

(Source: thestar.com)

Enbridge estimates of spill costs too low, B.C. warns

First Nations canoes sail across Vancouver’s harbour this weekend to protest against more dirty oil tankers in BC’s waters. View high resolution

First Nations canoes sail across Vancouver’s harbour this weekend to protest against more dirty oil tankers in BC’s waters.