The Alberta Tar Sands, AKA Syncrude, together with Global TV, are putting on a propaganda drive which they call "an opportunity to tell our own story". Framing this publicity stunt like that allows them to have this Global TV air time without rebuttals, and sure enough there are only the briefest of moments given to critics.
Apparently Syncrude feels the environmentalists are getting all the air time, but not many who watch the news would agree with that.
One item on this special is the Buffalo that roam the reclaimed land where tar sands mining has taken place. Syncrude spokespeople are gleefully pointing out that these Buffalo are healthy. I cannot argue with them on that, they probably are healthy, but that only shows that the reclaimed lands are okay and ignores the fact of the active mining areas being so toxic. Furthermore, to only show these Buffalo and none of the humans in the area - esp. the Fort Chipwayan native communties - who are suffering high rates of cancers and other health problems that are almost certainly the result of living "nearby and downstream" of the tar sands operations. Hurray for the Buffalo, Syncrude sweeps the human suffering under the table, and Global TV plays along. Such tactics as this almost define the word "inhumane".
This Global TV special is chock full of misleading statements. Everyone has heard that the tar sands operations are so large that they can be seen from outer space, so Syncrdue answers that by stating that the amount of Boreal forest that is removed there "is less than one-tenth of one percent" of Canada's boreal forest.
Gee, that is not a large portion is it? I squirm everytime I hear an oilman using "percents"... just like they used to say the toxins in the air amount to "less than one percent" - but now we know that the amount that does harm is in the parts per million... and that global warming occurs when the atmosphere has 450 parts per million CO2, etc etc.
I could go on and on, and sometimes I do, but if you want to believe the tar sands are a good idea then what I say isn't going to change your mind. I just wanted to point out the Global TV collusion in this propaganda drive.
