The true cost of oil | Garth Lenz | TEDxVictoria
-
0:05 - 0:06Hi everyone.
-
0:06 - 0:11The world's largest and most devastating
environmental and industrial project -
0:11 - 0:15is situated in the heart of the largest
and most intact forest in the world, -
0:15 - 0:17Canada's boreal forest.
-
0:17 - 0:21It stretches right across
Northern Canada, in Labrador, -
0:21 - 0:25it's home to the largest remaining
wild caribou herd in the world: -
0:25 - 0:26the George River caribou herd,
-
0:26 - 0:28numbering approximately 400,000 animals.
-
0:28 - 0:31Unfortunately, when I was there,
I couldn't find one of them, -
0:31 - 0:33but you have the antlers as proof.
-
0:34 - 0:35All across the boreal,
-
0:35 - 0:38we're blessed with this incredible
abundance of wetlands. -
0:38 - 0:42Wetlands, globally, are one
of the most endangered ecosystems. -
0:43 - 0:46They're absolutely critical ecosystems,
-
0:46 - 0:48they clean air, they clean water,
-
0:48 - 0:51they sequester large amounts
of greenhouse gases, -
0:51 - 0:55and they're home
to a huge diversity of species. -
0:55 - 0:57In the boreal, they are also the home
-
0:57 - 1:01where almost 50 percent of the 800 bird
species found in North America -
1:02 - 1:04migrate north to breed
and raise their young. -
1:06 - 1:11In Ontario, the boreal marches down south
to the north shore of Lake Superior. -
1:12 - 1:15And these incredibly
beautiful boreal forests -
1:15 - 1:19were the inspiration for some of the most
famous art in Canadian history, -
1:19 - 1:23the Group of Seven
were very inspired by this landscape, -
1:23 - 1:29and so the boreal is not just a really key
part of our natural heritage, -
1:29 - 1:32but also an important part
of our cultural heritage. -
1:32 - 1:36In Manitoba, this is an image
from the east side of Lake Winnipeg, -
1:36 - 1:41and this is the home of the newly
designated UNESCO Cultural Heritage site. -
1:44 - 1:47In Saskatchewan,
as across all of the boreal, -
1:47 - 1:49home to some of our most famous rivers,
-
1:49 - 1:54an incredible network of rivers and lakes
that every school-age child learns about, -
1:54 - 1:58the Peace, the Athabasca,
the Churchill here, the Mackenzie, -
1:58 - 2:03and these networks
were the historical routes -
2:03 - 2:05for the voyageur and the coureur de bois,
-
2:05 - 2:08the first non-aboriginal
explorers of Northern Canada -
2:08 - 2:11that, taking from
the First Nations people, -
2:11 - 2:14used canoes and paddled to explore
-
2:14 - 2:17for a trade route,
a Northwest Passage for the fur trade. -
2:19 - 2:23In the North, the boreal
is bordered by the tundra, -
2:23 - 2:26and just below that, in Yukon,
-
2:26 - 2:29we have this incredible valley,
the Tombstone Valley. -
2:29 - 2:34And the Tombstone Valley is home
to the Porcupine caribou herd. -
2:34 - 2:37Now you've probably heard
about the Porcupine caribou herd -
2:37 - 2:40in the context of its breeding ground
in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. -
2:40 - 2:43Well, the wintering ground
is also critical -
2:43 - 2:45and it also is not protected,
-
2:45 - 2:50and is potentially, could be potentially,
exploited for gas and mineral rights. -
2:52 - 2:54The western border of the boreal
in British Columbia -
2:54 - 2:56is marked by the Coast Mountains,
-
2:56 - 2:58and on the other side of those mountains
-
2:58 - 3:01is the greatest remaining
temperate rainforest in the world, -
3:01 - 3:02the Great Bear Rainforest,
-
3:02 - 3:05and we'll discuss that in a few minutes
in a bit more detail. -
3:05 - 3:07All across the boreal,
-
3:07 - 3:12it's home for a huge incredible range
of indigenous peoples, -
3:12 - 3:14and a rich and varied culture.
-
3:15 - 3:17And I think that one of the reasons
-
3:17 - 3:21why so many of these groups have
retained a link to the past, -
3:21 - 3:23know their native languages,
-
3:23 - 3:25the songs, the dances, the traditions,
-
3:25 - 3:29I think part of that reason
is because of the remoteness, -
3:29 - 3:30the span and the wilderness
-
3:30 - 3:34of this almost 95 percent
intact ecosystem. -
3:34 - 3:36And I think particularly now,
-
3:36 - 3:39as we see ourselves in a time
of environmental crisis, -
3:39 - 3:41we can learn so much from these people
-
3:41 - 3:43who have lived so sustainably
in this ecosystem -
3:43 - 3:45for over 10,000 years.
-
3:47 - 3:50In the heart of this ecosystem
is the very antithesis -
3:50 - 3:52of all of these values
that we've been talking about, -
3:52 - 3:54and I think these
are some of the core values -
3:54 - 3:56that make us proud to be Canadians.
-
3:56 - 3:58This is the Alberta tar sands,
-
3:58 - 4:02the largest oil reserves on the planet
outside of Saudi Arabia. -
4:02 - 4:06Trapped underneath the boreal forest
and wetlands of northern Alberta -
4:06 - 4:10are these vast reserves
of this sticky, tar-like bitumen. -
4:11 - 4:13And the mining
and the exploitation of that -
4:13 - 4:18is creating devastation on a scale
that the planet has never seen before. -
4:20 - 4:23I want to try to convey
some sort of a sense of the size of this. -
4:24 - 4:26If you look at that truck there,
-
4:26 - 4:28it is the largest truck
of its kind on the planet. -
4:28 - 4:31It is a 400-ton-capacity dump truck
-
4:31 - 4:38and its dimensions are 45 feet long
by 35 feet wide and 25 feet high. -
4:38 - 4:40If I stand beside that truck,
-
4:40 - 4:43my head comes to around the bottom
of the yellow part of that hubcap. -
4:44 - 4:46Within the dimensions of that truck,
-
4:46 - 4:50you could build a 3,000-square-foot
two-story home quite easily. -
4:50 - 4:51I did the math.
-
4:52 - 4:57So instead of thinking of that as a truck,
think of that as a 3,000-square-foot home. -
4:57 - 4:59That's not a bad size home.
-
4:59 - 5:02And line those trucks / homes
back and forth -
5:02 - 5:06across there from the bottom
all the way to the top. -
5:07 - 5:12And then think of how large
that very small section of one mine is. -
5:13 - 5:16Now, you can apply that same kind
of thinking here as well. -
5:17 - 5:19Now, here you see...
Of course, as you go further on, -
5:19 - 5:21these trucks become like a pixel.
-
5:22 - 5:25Again, imagine those
all back and forth there. -
5:25 - 5:27How large is that one portion of a mine?
-
5:29 - 5:33That would be a huge,
vast metropolitan area, -
5:33 - 5:36probably much larger
than the city of Victoria. -
5:36 - 5:39And this is just one of a number of mines,
-
5:39 - 5:4210 mines so far right now.
-
5:42 - 5:44This is one section of one mining complex,
-
5:44 - 5:48and there are about another 40 or 50
in the approval process. -
5:48 - 5:51No tar sands mine has actually
ever been denied approval, -
5:51 - 5:53so it is essentially a rubber stamp.
-
5:55 - 5:58The other method of extraction
is what's called the in situ. -
5:58 - 6:00And here, massive amounts of water
-
6:00 - 6:03are superheated and pumped
through the ground, -
6:03 - 6:05through these vasts networks of pipelines,
-
6:05 - 6:08seismic lines, drill paths,
compressor stations. -
6:08 - 6:13And even though this looks
maybe not quite as repugnant as the mines, -
6:13 - 6:15it's even more damaging in some ways.
-
6:15 - 6:20It impacts and fragments
a larger part of the wilderness, -
6:20 - 6:23where there is 90 percent
reduction of key species, -
6:23 - 6:25like woodland caribou and grizzly bears,
-
6:25 - 6:29and it consumes
even more energy, more water, -
6:29 - 6:31and produces at least
as much greenhouse gas. -
6:31 - 6:37So these in situ developments are at least
as ecologically damaging as the mines. -
6:39 - 6:41The oil produced from either method
-
6:41 - 6:46produces more greenhouse gas
emissions than any other oil. -
6:46 - 6:49This is one of the reasons
why it's called the world's dirtiest oil. -
6:50 - 6:51It's also one of the reasons
-
6:51 - 6:56why it is the largest and fastest-growing
single source of carbon in Canada, -
6:56 - 7:01and it is also a reason
why Canada is now number three -
7:01 - 7:04in terms of producing carbon per person.
-
7:06 - 7:10The tailings ponds are the largest toxic
impoundments on the planet. -
7:11 - 7:14Oil sands... or rather,
I should say tar sands... -
7:14 - 7:16Oil sands is a PR-created term
-
7:16 - 7:19so that the oil companies
wouldn't be trying to promote something -
7:19 - 7:23that sounds like a sticky tar-like
substance that's the world's dirtiest oil. -
7:24 - 7:26So they decided to call it oil sands.
-
7:26 - 7:30The tar sands consume more water
than any other oil process, -
7:30 - 7:33three to five barrels of water
are taken, polluted -
7:33 - 7:36and then returned into tailings ponds,
-
7:36 - 7:38the largest toxic
impoundments on the planet. -
7:38 - 7:42SemCrude, just one of the licensees,
in just one of their tailings ponds, -
7:42 - 7:47dumps 250,000 tons
of this toxic gunk every single day. -
7:49 - 7:53That's creating the largest toxic
impoundments in the history of the planet. -
7:53 - 7:58So far, this is enough toxin to cover
the face of Lake Erie a foot deep. -
8:00 - 8:04And the tailings ponds
range in size up to 9,000 acres. -
8:05 - 8:08That's two-thirds the size
of the entire island of Manhattan. -
8:09 - 8:12That's like from Wall Street
at the southern edge of Manhattan -
8:12 - 8:14up to maybe 120th Street.
-
8:14 - 8:18So this is one of the larger
tailings ponds. -
8:18 - 8:21This might be, what? I don't know,
half the size of Manhattan. -
8:21 - 8:23And you can see in the context,
-
8:23 - 8:27it's just a relatively small section
of one of 10 mining complexes -
8:27 - 8:31and another 40 to 50
on stream to be approved soon. -
8:33 - 8:35And of course, these tailings ponds...
-
8:35 - 8:38Well, you can't see
many ponds from outer space -
8:38 - 8:42and you can see these, so maybe
we should stop calling them ponds... -
8:42 - 8:45These massive toxic wastelands are built
-
8:45 - 8:48unlined and on the banks
of the Athabasca River. -
8:49 - 8:53And the Athabasca River drains downstream
to a range of aboriginal communities. -
8:53 - 8:57In Fort Chipewyan, the 800 people there,
are finding toxins in the food chain, -
8:58 - 8:59this has been scientifically proven.
-
9:00 - 9:02The tar sands toxins
are in the food chain, -
9:02 - 9:05and this is causing cancer
rates up to 10 times -
9:05 - 9:07what they are in the rest of Canada.
-
9:08 - 9:13In spite of that, people have to live,
have to eat this food in order to survive. -
9:13 - 9:16The incredibly high price of flying food
-
9:17 - 9:19into these remote
Northern aboriginal communities -
9:19 - 9:21and the high rate of unemployment
-
9:21 - 9:23makes this an absolute
necessity for survival. -
9:24 - 9:28And not that many years ago,
I was lent a boat by a First Nations man, -
9:28 - 9:30and he said, "When you
go out on the river, -
9:30 - 9:33do not under any
circumstances eat the fish. -
9:34 - 9:35It's carcinogenic."
-
9:36 - 9:40And yet, on the front porch
of that man's cabin, -
9:40 - 9:42I saw four fish.
-
9:42 - 9:44He had to feed his family to survive.
-
9:44 - 9:50And as a parent, I just can't imagine
what that does to your soul. -
9:51 - 9:52And that's what we're doing.
-
9:54 - 9:58The boreal forest
is also perhaps our best defense -
9:59 - 10:01against global warming and climate change.
-
10:02 - 10:06The boreal forest sequesters more carbon
than any other terrestrial ecosystem. -
10:08 - 10:10And this is absolutely key.
-
10:10 - 10:12So what we're doing is,
-
10:12 - 10:17we're taking the most concentrated
greenhouse gas sink... -
10:18 - 10:20Twice as much greenhouse
gases are sequestered -
10:20 - 10:24in the boreal per acre
than the tropical rainforests. -
10:24 - 10:27And what we're doing is we're destroying
-
10:27 - 10:29this carbon sink,
turning it into a carbon bomb. -
10:30 - 10:33And we're replacing that
with the largest industrial project -
10:33 - 10:34in the history of the world,
-
10:34 - 10:40which is producing the most high-carbon
greenhouse-gas emitting oil in the world. -
10:41 - 10:45And we're doing this on the second largest
oil reserves on the planet. -
10:46 - 10:50This is one of the reasons why Canada,
originally a climate change hero... -
10:50 - 10:54We were one of the first
signatories of the Kyoto Accord. -
10:54 - 10:56Now we're the country
that has full-time lobbyists -
10:56 - 10:58in the European Union and Washington DC,
-
10:59 - 11:01threatening trade wars
-
11:01 - 11:06when these countries talk about wanting
to bring in positive legislation -
11:06 - 11:09to limit the import of high-carbon fuels,
-
11:09 - 11:12of greenhouse gas emissions,
anything like this, -
11:12 - 11:17at international conferences,
whether they're in Copenhagen or Cancun, -
11:17 - 11:19international conferences
on climate change, -
11:19 - 11:22we're the country that gets
the dinosaur award every single day, -
11:22 - 11:26as being the biggest
obstacle to progress on this issue. -
11:28 - 11:30Just 70 miles downstream
-
11:30 - 11:34is the world's largest freshwater delta,
the Peace-Athabasca Delta, -
11:34 - 11:37the only one at the juncture
of all four migratory flyways. -
11:37 - 11:41This is a globally significant wetland,
perhaps the greatest on the planet. -
11:41 - 11:45Incredible habitat
for half the bird species -
11:45 - 11:48you find in North America, migrating here.
-
11:49 - 11:53And also the last refuge
for the largest herd of wild bison, -
11:53 - 11:57and also, of course, critical habitat
for another whole range of other species. -
11:58 - 12:00But it too is being threatened
-
12:00 - 12:04by the massive amount of water
being drawn from the Athabasca, -
12:04 - 12:06which feeds these wetlands,
-
12:06 - 12:08and also the incredible toxic burden
-
12:08 - 12:11of the largest toxic unlined
impoundments on the planet, -
12:11 - 12:15which are leaching in to the food chain
for all the species downstream. -
12:16 - 12:20So as bad as all that is, things are going
to get much worse... much, much worse. -
12:20 - 12:23This is the infrastructure
as we see it about now. -
12:23 - 12:26This is what's planned for 2015.
-
12:26 - 12:30And you can see here
the Keystone Pipeline, -
12:30 - 12:35which would take tar sands raw
down to the Gulf Coast, -
12:35 - 12:39punching a pipeline through
the agricultural heart of North America, -
12:39 - 12:41of the United States,
-
12:41 - 12:47and securing the contract
with the dirtiest fuel in the world -
12:47 - 12:50by consumption of the United States,
-
12:50 - 12:52and promoting a huge disincentive
-
12:52 - 12:55to a sustainable clean-energy
future for America. -
12:56 - 13:01Here you see the route
down the Mackenzie valley. -
13:02 - 13:06This would put a pipeline
to take natural gas from the Beaufort Sea -
13:06 - 13:10through the heart of the third largest
watershed basin in the world, -
13:10 - 13:13and the only one
which is 95 percent intact. -
13:13 - 13:17And building a pipeline
with an industrial highway -
13:17 - 13:20would change forever
this incredible wilderness, -
13:20 - 13:23which is a true rarity
on the planet today. -
13:26 - 13:30So the Great Bear Rainforest
is just over the hill there, -
13:30 - 13:33within a few miles,
we go from these dry boreal forests -
13:33 - 13:36of 100-year-old trees,
maybe 10 inches across, -
13:36 - 13:39and soon, we're in the coastal
temperate rainforest, -
13:39 - 13:42rain-drenched, 1,000-year-old trees,
-
13:42 - 13:4520 feet across, a completely
different ecosystem. -
13:45 - 13:48And the Great Bear Rainforest
is generally considered to be -
13:48 - 13:52the largest coastal temperate rainforest
ecosystem in the world. -
13:52 - 13:54Some of the greatest densities
-
13:54 - 13:57of some of the most iconic
and threatened species on the planet. -
13:58 - 14:02And yet there's a proposal,
of course, to build a pipeline -
14:03 - 14:07to take huge tankers,
10 times the size of the Exxon Valdez, -
14:07 - 14:10through some of the most
difficult-to-navigate waters in the world, -
14:10 - 14:13where only just a few years ago,
a BC ferry ran aground. -
14:14 - 14:17When one of these tar sands tankers,
-
14:17 - 14:20carrying the dirtiest oil,
10 times as much as the Exxon Valdez, -
14:20 - 14:22eventually hits a rock and goes down,
-
14:22 - 14:25we're going to have
one of the worst ecological disasters -
14:25 - 14:27this planet has ever seen.
-
14:28 - 14:31And here we have the plan out to 2030.
-
14:31 - 14:36What they're proposing is an almost
four-times increase in production, -
14:36 - 14:39and that would industrialize
an area the size of Florida. -
14:41 - 14:46In doing so, we'll be removing
a large part of our greatest carbon sink -
14:46 - 14:52and replacing it with the most high
greenhouse-gas emission oil in the future. -
14:53 - 14:56The world does not need
any more tar mines. -
14:57 - 15:00The world does not need any more pipelines
-
15:00 - 15:02to wed our addiction to fossil fuels.
-
15:03 - 15:05And the world certainly does not need
-
15:05 - 15:08the largest toxic impoundments
to grow and multiply -
15:08 - 15:10and further threaten
the downstream communities. -
15:10 - 15:12And let's face it, we all live downstream
-
15:12 - 15:15in an era of global warming
and climate change. -
15:16 - 15:19What we need, is we all need to act
-
15:19 - 15:23to ensure that Canada respects
the massive amounts of freshwater -
15:24 - 15:25that we hold in this country.
-
15:26 - 15:28We need to ensure
that these wetlands and forests -
15:28 - 15:32that are our best and greatest
and most critical defense -
15:32 - 15:34against global warming are protected,
-
15:34 - 15:38and we are not releasing
that carbon bomb into the atmosphere. -
15:39 - 15:44And we need to all gather together
and say no to the tar sands. -
15:44 - 15:45And we can do that.
-
15:45 - 15:48There is a huge network
all over the world, -
15:48 - 15:50fighting to stop this project.
-
15:50 - 15:52And I quite simply think
-
15:52 - 15:56that this is not something
that should be decided just in Canada. -
15:56 - 15:58Everyone in this room,
everyone across Canada, -
15:58 - 16:00everyone listening to this presentation
-
16:00 - 16:03has a role to play
and, I think, a responsibility. -
16:03 - 16:08Because what we do here
is going to change our history, -
16:09 - 16:11it's going to color
our possibility to survive, -
16:11 - 16:15and for our children to survive
and have a rich future. -
16:17 - 16:19We have an incredible gift in the boreal,
-
16:19 - 16:24an incredible opportunity to preserve
our best defense against global warming, -
16:24 - 16:26but we could let that slip away.
-
16:27 - 16:30The tar sands could threaten
not just a large section of the boreal. -
16:31 - 16:34It compromises the life and the health
-
16:34 - 16:38of some of our most underprivileged
and vulnerable people, -
16:38 - 16:41the aboriginal communities
that have so much to teach us. -
16:42 - 16:45It could destroy the Athabasca Delta,
-
16:45 - 16:49the largest and possibly greatest
freshwater delta in the planet. -
16:49 - 16:53It could destroy
the Great Bear Rainforest, -
16:53 - 16:55the largest temperate
rainforest in the world. -
16:56 - 16:58And it could have huge impacts
-
16:58 - 17:02on the future of the agricultural
heartland of North America. -
17:02 - 17:06I hope that you will all,
if you've been moved by this presentation, -
17:06 - 17:08join with the growing
international community -
17:08 - 17:12to get Canada to step up
to its responsibilities, -
17:12 - 17:16to convince Canada to go back
to being a climate change champion -
17:16 - 17:18instead of a climate change villain,
-
17:18 - 17:20and to say no to the tar sands,
-
17:20 - 17:22and yes to a clean energy future for all.
-
17:22 - 17:24Thank you so much.
-
17:24 - 17:27(Applause)
- Title:
- The true cost of oil | Garth Lenz | TEDxVictoria
- Description:
-
What does environmental devastation actually look like? Photographer Garth Lenz shares shocking photos of the Alberta Tar Sands mining project -- and the beautiful (and vital) ecosystems under threat.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 17:34
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for The true cost of oil | Garth Lenz | TEDxVictoria | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for The true cost of oil | Garth Lenz | TEDxVictoria | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for The true cost of oil | Garth Lenz | TEDxVictoria |