VIDEO: Tar Sands Action By “Gasland” Director Josh Fox

By Jenn Breckenridge

The Understory

“There’s only been one tool that people have turned to in desperate times to change the world: Civil disobedience.”

Director Josh Fox was nominated for an Oscar for his film Gasland, which exposed the impact of hydraulic fracturing of the earth for natural gas, also known as fracking. Today, he turns his documentarian skills towards the Alberta tar sands to lay out the facts about this devestating oil project and to invite you to join him at the rolling sit-in Tar Sands Action at the White House from August 20th – September 3rd, along with Maude Barlow, Bill McKibben, Naomi Klein, Thom Yorke, Mark Ruffalo, James Hansen, and thousands more.

In Josh’s words, “Now is the time.”

Tar Sands Facts

1. The Alberta tar sands is the biggest industrial development project, the biggest capital investment project, and the biggest energy project in the world.
2. The tar sands project is irreversibly destroying an area of ancient Boreal Forest the size of England.
3. The tar sands uses more water than a city of two million people.
4. The tar sands produces 36 million tons of carbon dioxide per day. It emits the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as 1.3 million cars.
5. In 2007, the tar sands used approx. 1 billion feet of natural gas per day, much of which was obtained through fracking.
6. Waster from the tar sands is stored in toxic ponds that are so big they can be seen from space. These toxic lakes leak 11 million liters of contaminated water every day into groundwater and drinking water for local communities, including Indigenous First Nations communities of Canada.
7. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would pipe tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

You can help stop the Keystone XL pipeline.

Take Action

1  Sign & Share the Petition to Obama

Only the President of the United States has the authority to block the Keystone XL pipeline. Tell President Obama to keep the Keystone XL oil pipeline out of our backyards. Everyone in North America needs to be aware of this dangerous pipeline proposal, so please share this petition with your friends and family. Make sure they know that the opportunity to stop Keystone XL is right now.

2  Join the Tar Sands Action in D.C.

From August 20th to September 3rd, concerned people from across the continent — students, celebrities, scientists, Indigenous peoples, church groups, environmentalists, parents, and more — are gathering in Washington for a mass act of civil disobedience at the White House. Over 1500 individuals are already registered to join this wave of sustained sit-ins and send a clear message to the President: The People are saying NO to the 2000-mile climate-destroying Keystone XL pipeline.

If you’re ready to do whatever it takes to stop climate change, you can register to join the action at TarSandsAction.org.