The massive resources that are being poured into the environmentally damaging tar sands could be used to achieve many of the UN Millenium Goals such as averting 400 million child deaths annually and providing universal primary school education, or could even finance the construction of a solar field in North Africa that could supply both North African countries and Europe with energy.
These are just some of the findings of a disturbing report released today by the Co-operative Group and WWF-UK, which puts into perspective the estimated £250 billion that will be invested in tar sand extraction before 2020.
The report coincides with the UK film premiere of 'Dirty Oil'; a hard hitting documentary film that outlines the environmental impacts and subsequent implications for First Nation Indians in the area. The Co-operative Group is involved in the UK distribution of the film, which will be premiered at over 25 cinemas with exclusive ticket offers available to Co-operative members. More information on the Co-operative distribution and the 'Dirty Oil' film will follow later this week here on the ACT! blog.
The 'Opportunity Cost of the Tar Sands' Report, written by the Co-operative Group and WWF-UK, as part of their Toxic Fuels campaign, shows how the money invested in tar sands could be better spent on, for example, halving the number of people in the world living without clean water and sanitation.
The extraction of tar sands has gathered wide scale criticism from environmental groups around the globe, and most recently the oil companies own investors, due to the extraction and production of oil from the tar sands emitting three times more green house gases than conventional oil which will devastate the Canadian Boreal forest ecosystem.
This recent article focuses not just on the environmental destruction associated with the extraction of tar sands but questions the morals behind seeking profit from such a process when we currently face so many crisis situations that need funding. This look at how the money being invested in 'dirty oil' could alternatively be spent, should highlight the importance of co-operative action on the subject, regardless of the environmental consequences. After all, the co-operative values and principles support sustainability and reject the blind pursuit of profit at all costs.