our dependence on oil comes at a steep
cost and it may be more serious than
most people realize hi I’m Rebecca
Brayton and welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re speaking with filmmaker
Shannon Walsh to learn more about the
Alberta tar sands and her documentary h2
oil so what are the the tar sands or the
oil sands the tar sands and I think
using tar sands is more clear than oil
sands re-branding by the industry and
this covers about the size of England in
northern Alberta also into saskatchewan
in other areas and basically what it is
it’s like there’s gooey substance that’s
locked in the sand that for a long time
they didn’t know how to get out and they
finally figured out how to get out and
some of it is what you see in my foam
huge surface mining projects there’s a
few other processes but basically
they’re trying to heat that they end up
so they can get this bitumen out of it
that will then be refined into crude oil
there’s so many environmental impacts of
the tar sands some of the ones that I
really focus a lot on in the film are
the extreme amounts of fresh water usage
the huge amounts of carbon emissions
these tailings ponds huge vats of toxic
waste water that are sitting very close
to the river in the river systems
there’s boreal forest destruction the
list goes on and on it’s really the end
of the line in terms of any kind of
sensical environmental project tell us
about the issue of the importance of oil
versus water yeah I think ultimately for
me that was the the guiding question for
the phone what is more important water
or oil I mean for me it just broke my
heart and I think a lot of people would
feel the same to see fresh water being
expended for this dirty crude oil that
was going to create more carbon
emissions there’s something fundamental
that we need to live in water and and
oil is really about our excessive
lifestyle I really feel like the days
where we could live that kind of a life
are coming to an end and we do have to
take a hard look at that what effect are
the the tar sands having on that
specific area right at the front lines
of this whole situation is this into
community afore chip away and that
downstream from the industry and they
were the first really to bring attention
to what was happening within the land
and the environment and started saying
hey wait a minute
what you’re hearing isn’t isn’t the
whole truth and so people like George
put trust who as a community leader in
for triple and started talking about the
amounts of cancers that were and rare
illnesses autoimmune diseases that they
were seeing not only problems in the
environment but also people dying in
their community at really high numbers
since actually the the film has been out
there has been admissions by the Alberta
government that these cancer rates are
higher so we know that this is true it’s
just are we willing to open our eyes to
the real consequences of this
development what do you hope h2 oil
accomplishes I think in making sure
while I was really hoping that it would
prompt discussion really make up take a
hard look at what we’re doing in Alberta
at the time when no one was talking
about it I felt like maybe this will be
the opening I feel like now we’re almost
ready for more and I really hope that
the phone leads to action I hope it
leads to people feeling that they should
get involved because I think each one of
us does have to get involved in so in a
sense it’s a it’s a documentary and it’s
a film that hopes to make real change
thank you very much thank you
cost and it may be more serious than
most people realize hi I’m Rebecca
Brayton and welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re speaking with filmmaker
Shannon Walsh to learn more about the
Alberta tar sands and her documentary h2
oil so what are the the tar sands or the
oil sands the tar sands and I think
using tar sands is more clear than oil
sands re-branding by the industry and
this covers about the size of England in
northern Alberta also into saskatchewan
in other areas and basically what it is
it’s like there’s gooey substance that’s
locked in the sand that for a long time
they didn’t know how to get out and they
finally figured out how to get out and
some of it is what you see in my foam
huge surface mining projects there’s a
few other processes but basically
they’re trying to heat that they end up
so they can get this bitumen out of it
that will then be refined into crude oil
there’s so many environmental impacts of
the tar sands some of the ones that I
really focus a lot on in the film are
the extreme amounts of fresh water usage
the huge amounts of carbon emissions
these tailings ponds huge vats of toxic
waste water that are sitting very close
to the river in the river systems
there’s boreal forest destruction the
list goes on and on it’s really the end
of the line in terms of any kind of
sensical environmental project tell us
about the issue of the importance of oil
versus water yeah I think ultimately for
me that was the the guiding question for
the phone what is more important water
or oil I mean for me it just broke my
heart and I think a lot of people would
feel the same to see fresh water being
expended for this dirty crude oil that
was going to create more carbon
emissions there’s something fundamental
that we need to live in water and and
oil is really about our excessive
lifestyle I really feel like the days
where we could live that kind of a life
are coming to an end and we do have to
take a hard look at that what effect are
the the tar sands having on that
specific area right at the front lines
of this whole situation is this into
community afore chip away and that
downstream from the industry and they
were the first really to bring attention
to what was happening within the land
and the environment and started saying
hey wait a minute
what you’re hearing isn’t isn’t the
whole truth and so people like George
put trust who as a community leader in
for triple and started talking about the
amounts of cancers that were and rare
illnesses autoimmune diseases that they
were seeing not only problems in the
environment but also people dying in
their community at really high numbers
since actually the the film has been out
there has been admissions by the Alberta
government that these cancer rates are
higher so we know that this is true it’s
just are we willing to open our eyes to
the real consequences of this
development what do you hope h2 oil
accomplishes I think in making sure
while I was really hoping that it would
prompt discussion really make up take a
hard look at what we’re doing in Alberta
at the time when no one was talking
about it I felt like maybe this will be
the opening I feel like now we’re almost
ready for more and I really hope that
the phone leads to action I hope it
leads to people feeling that they should
get involved because I think each one of
us does have to get involved in so in a
sense it’s a it’s a documentary and it’s
a film that hopes to make real change
thank you very much thank you
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