Greenpeace has a long history of putting themselves into the media spotlight to make their point. And whether people agree with them or not, in cases like Alberta's tarsands it's pretty difficult to refute what they are fighting for. Greenpeace Alberta has a branch called STOP (stop tarsands operations permanently) working out of Edmonton that is focused solely on the environmental destruction going on in northern Alberta.
The destruction happening in Alberta is huge, and though the clear-cutting that was going on in B.C. was just as much of an environmental problem, the tarsands are a very far-reaching issue that are creating long-term and irreversible damage. The destruction is more than just the immediate area, affecting all of the surrounding communities and citizens.
So whether the solution to the problem is as easy as an agreement with Greenpeace protestors seems questionable.
"It's definately not something we would sign on to," said Mike Hudema, head of Greenpeace's STOP campaign. "The only ethical choice is a full phase out. Anything less would sell out the communities we are trying to protect."
Those communities are the one's seeing firsthand the damage that Alberta's oil addiction is causing. Communities near the tarsands are concerned about drinking the water or eating fish that comes out of local rivers. They even say that the pollution in the air makes them sick. At one point, a study was even done looking at whether the industry was responsible for increases in cancer rates of citizens in adjacent communities.
It is communities like these that are apart of why an agreement is not what Greenpeace wants. The tarsands are environmentally destructive but it isn't about just slowing or changing the industry, because this isn't a problem that can be solved in the same way as B.C.'s clear-cutting.
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