Hubbard Glacier, Alaska

The cosmos is a delicate web. As Christians, we are to care for creation. Problems arise when profit meets commitment to environmental preservation.

The tar sands project to reclaim oil from bitumen embedded in sand is just one example of the rape of our nest. We continue to recklessly destroy our environment. Now the Obama administration  wants to issue a permit to build an oil pipeline from Albert, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. This week Jesus and Paul and their followers would be at the White House fence protesting the government’s

pipeline.

A brief description of the destructiveness of the tar sands reclamation of oil from bitumen embedded in sand reads:

Environmental Defence just released a new report on the Alberta Oil Sands, calling it the most destructive project on Earth. DeSmogblog gleaned some facts from it:

-Oil sands mining is licensed to use twice the amount of fresh water that the entire city of Calgary uses in a year.

-At least 90% of the fresh water used in the oil sands ends up in ends up in tailing ponds so toxic that propane cannons are used to keep ducks from landing.

-Processing the oil sands uses enough natural gas in a day to heat 3 million homes.

-The toxic tailing ponds are considered one of the largest human-made structures in the world. -The ponds span 50 square kilometers and can be seen from space.

-Producing a barrel of oil from the oil sands produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions than a barrel of conventional oil.

All to keep up the happy motoring! PDF of report here via ::DeSmogBlog (http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/tar-sands-most-destructive-project.php )

The complete report on the environmental destructiveness of the tar sands project can be read at http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/TarSands_TheReport%20final.pdf

The September 2009 issue of National Geographic Magazine has a feature article on the tar sands project  (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/canadian-oil-sands/kunzig-text )