ReturnToTheTarSands

I have just spent one terrific week with the ToTheTarSands group, and as I head home, I am pondering a typical comment many of our acquaintances have offered regarding the proposed 3-week trip: “you guys are nuts!”
Prior to the ride, I tended to agree that journeying some 1400 km was a crazy idea. But after [...]

Filed under: Commentary, TTTS on August 31st, 2007 | No Comments »

The following is a part of a longer conversation we had with representatives from both the Alberta Federation of Labor and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP). This first part focuses mostly on the issue of Foreign Temporary Workers. The second part will be posted as soon as time permits.
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“So you believe in the [...]

Filed under: Labour, TTTS on August 30th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Last night we pulled into Fort Saskatchewan, a small city north-east of Edmonton. It is part of “Alberta’s Industrial Heartland,” where much of the bitumen pulled from the tar sands is upgraded and refined. This sprawling region has earned the local nickname “Upgrader Alley” thanks to its fate as the site of up to eleven [...]

Filed under: Environmental Justice, TTTS on August 30th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

On the way back from a delicious complimentary lunch, courtesy of Community Natural Foods, I passed by a labor placement service and decided to interview the workers milling around the entrance. One gentleman agreed to talk with me, giving his name as Joe. When asked how the development of the Tar Sands had affected his [...]

Filed under: Labour, TTTS on August 25th, 2007 | 7 Comments »

The stories and ideas we, the tothetarsands bikers, are exploring is a range from the whole concept of human oil consumption, to the history of oil in Alberta, to the history of Albertan society, to the question has the majority of people’s living standards gone up from the boom?
Is oil a gift or a virus [...]

Filed under: Commentary, TTTS on August 24th, 2007 | 3 Comments »