Essay Topics
Becca Benfield
Scraping Bottom Summary:
This article begins with a story about a man in Alberta, Canada. When he was young he would spend ample time with his grandfather. One day in 1963, when he was 7 years old, they arrived back at the house only to see that his log cabin had been destroyed without any warning or notice. This was the beginning of the Alberta oil sands.
After oil was discovered on his land, the whole valley becomes covered with open pit mines. In order to create these mines the owners had to remove the trees, two tons of peat and dirt, and two tons of the actual sand. This would have had a devastating effect on the environment because it would lead to erosion, pollution of the waterways, etc.
One of the largest creators of CO2 emissions in the world are the oil sands in Canada. Therefore, this oil is sent to the U.S. through a pipeline from Canada. . Thus, making us contributors of the CO2 emissions from the Canadian oil fields,
The only way the U.S. can stop being a contributor to the pollution of the earth is by using clean and renewable energy. Such as, electric cars which create no pollution. One of the major concerns with the process of extracting the oil from the oil sands is the need for holding ponds or tailing ponds. These are used to waste water. They can’t dump it in the Athabasca River because it would cause major pollution problems.
It would take centuries to dry out the toxic chemicals contained in these ponds. Such as naphthenic acid and polycrylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). They are required to reclaim it somehow, but have been missing their deadlines and still have not reclaimed a single room. The Alberta government claims that the river is not being contaminated, but it is inconceivable that that much tar could be moved and processed without having an environmental effect on the river.
It is believed by Schindler, that people in port Chipewyan have already been killed by the
Scraping Bottom Summary:
This article begins with a story about a man in Alberta, Canada. When he was young he would spend ample time with his grandfather. One day in 1963, when he was 7 years old, they arrived back at the house only to see that his log cabin had been destroyed without any warning or notice. This was the beginning of the Alberta oil sands.
After oil was discovered on his land, the whole valley becomes covered with open pit mines. In order to create these mines the owners had to remove the trees, two tons of peat and dirt, and two tons of the actual sand. This would have had a devastating effect on the environment because it would lead to erosion, pollution of the waterways, etc.
One of the largest creators of CO2 emissions in the world are the oil sands in Canada. Therefore, this oil is sent to the U.S. through a pipeline from Canada. . Thus, making us contributors of the CO2 emissions from the Canadian oil fields,
The only way the U.S. can stop being a contributor to the pollution of the earth is by using clean and renewable energy. Such as, electric cars which create no pollution. One of the major concerns with the process of extracting the oil from the oil sands is the need for holding ponds or tailing ponds. These are used to waste water. They can’t dump it in the Athabasca River because it would cause major pollution problems.
It would take centuries to dry out the toxic chemicals contained in these ponds. Such as naphthenic acid and polycrylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). They are required to reclaim it somehow, but have been missing their deadlines and still have not reclaimed a single room. The Alberta government claims that the river is not being contaminated, but it is inconceivable that that much tar could be moved and processed without having an environmental effect on the river.
It is believed by Schindler, that people in port Chipewyan have already been killed by the