Photo by Sara Stratton
Development of the Alberta tar sands poses a serious ethical dilemma for Canadians. How can we create meaningful employment and meet our energy needs while at the same time respecting Indigenous rights and the Earth’s natural limits? The way, and the extent, that the tar sands are developed will affect the lives of all Canadians and greatly influence our economy, our trade and foreign policy priorities, and the legacy we leave to future generations.
KAIROS has engaged on these questions through its 2007-2010 “Re-Energize” campaign and the current “The Land, Our Life” campaign, which focuses on resource extraction, Indigenous rights, and sustainability. Our work includes the discussion paper, Christian Faith and the Canadian Tar Sands, the experience of a high-level Church leaders’ delegation to the tar sands in May 2009, its statement of findings and KAIROS' position paper, Drawing a Line in the Sand, adopted by the KAIROS Board in 2010.
'Drawing a Line in the Sand: Why Canada needs to limit tar sands expansion and invest in a green economy' makes the following recommendations with regard to the Tar Sands:
1) No further approvals for tar sands projects;
2) Support Indigenous communities’ and environmental groups’ longstanding calls for independent studies, funded by the Alberta and federal governments, on the cumulative impacts of the tar sands development, especially on health, water and ecosystems. These studies must involve Indigenous people and be accessible to them and the public.
3) The federal government must develop a clean and sustainable energy strategy, based on conservation and the development of renewable energy as well as a funded transition plan for sustainable jobs in a reewable energy sector. The principles of ecological sustainability and Indigenous Rights must be applied to the development of a renewable energy projects.
KAIROS Resources
Connecting the Drops
KAIROS' ecumenical delegation to Alberta's Athabasca Oil Sands from May 21 - 27, 2009.
Written and created by Emily Shepard
Connecting the Drops from on Vimeo.
KAIROS tour of the Tar Sands - 2009 flyover
Pumped Up: How Canada Subsidizes Fossil Fuels at the Expense of Green Alternatives
KAIROS’ 60 page 2011 study “Pumped Up: How Canada Subsidizes Fossil Fuels at the Expense of Green of Green Alternatives” demonstrates that the fossil fuel industry receives subsidies amounting to 1billion dollars a year from the federal government — resources that could be used to offset the costs of transitioning to a green economy. ------- "The global economy is utterly dependent upon the use of oil and other fossil fuels. Paradoxically, the same resource that is vital to our economy is also killing us, sometimes quickly as a result of the intensified conflict over the control and use of fossil fuels, and sometimes slowly through the degradation of the air that we breathe … [Read more...]