Athabasca, Alberta

The town of Athabasca is located in central Alberta just two hours north of Edmonton. It is found on the Athabascan River which runs north into the Arctic Ocean. Approximately 2750 people populate Athabasca but several more are coming to visit to profit off of Athabasca's main resource; oil sands.

Athabasca's Oil Sands

Corporations worldwide are traveling to Athabasca in search of it's abundance of oil. Being that oil is a great canadian commodity it has created tremendous provincial and national economic gains however, the exploitation of this resource has been detrimental to the environment.Through protests, studies and demonstrations, Athabasca's environmentalists prove that the capitalization of their oil sands goes beyond the removal of oil; mining the oil sands is destroying Athabasca's rivers and ecosystems, accumulating mass amounts of dust, and negatively affecting social programs.Does the ecological cost outweigh the economic benefit?

Unavoidably Unbalanced

The relationship between the economic expansion and environmental preservation remain fundamentally contradictory (Novek & Kampen, 1992, p.250).

Economic Benefits

Economic Benefits

Employment opportunities

Profitable Export

Increasing value of Canadian Dollar

Indigenous peoples living on/near oil sands experience increased business Owners of trucking & construction companies

Environmental Costs

Environmental Costs

Increase in housing costs in resource towns

Large & wasteful consumption of water used to produce oil

Increased greenhouse gas emissions

Exploitation of Indigenous land

Aeolian dust accumulation

Damaging ecosystemsDeformed fish in Athabasca river

Increase taxes less focus on social programsie. health care, education, crime prevention etc.

Oil being exploited is 'dirty' Wasted because no one wants it.

Dirty Oil

Described as nature's deathbed

Unwanted oil because it is deemed 'dirty'

Greenhouse-gas emissions from the production of synthetic tar sands oil are three times as large, barrel for barrel, as those from conventional oil (Cosh, 2010)

Exploited & Polluted River

High levels of Poly aromatic compounds found in river which act as toxins inThe cardiovascular and blood systems

Reproductive systems

gastrointestinal/liver systems

Respiratory systems

Also carcinogens

Deformed the aquatic population

Who's Involved?

Parallels to The Golden Spruce

Grant Waldin's expertise at his job = corporations love for moneyBoth destroy the environment

What's Being Done?

Protests, studies, demonstrations

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