Line in the Tar Sands

Description

Tar sands “development” comes with an enormous environmental and human cost. In the tar sands of Alberta, the oil industry is using vast quantities of water and natural gas to produce synthetic crude oil, creating drastically high levels of greenhouse gas emissions and air and water pollution. But tar sands opponents—fighting a powerful international industry—are likened to terrorists, government environmental scientists are muzzled, and public hearings are concealed and rushed.

Yet, despite the formidable political and economic power behind the tar sands, many opponents are actively building international networks of resistance, challenging pipeline plans while resisting threats to Indigenous sovereignty and democratic participation. Including leading voices involved in the struggle against the tar sands, A Line in the Tar Sands offers a critical analysis of the impact of the tar sands and the challenges opponents face in their efforts to organize effective resistance.

Contributors include: Greg Albo, Sâkihitowin Awâsis, Toban Black, Rae Breaux, Jeremy Brecher, Linda Capato, Jesse Cardinal, Angela V. Carter, Emily Coats, Stephen D’Arcy, Yves Engler, Cherri Foytlin, Sonia Grant, Harjap Grewal, Randolph Haluza-DeLay, Ryan Katz-Rosene, Naomi Klein, Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Winona LaDuke, Crystal Lameman, Christine Leclerc, Kerry Lemon, Matt Leonard, Martin Lukacs, Tyler McCreary, Bill McKibben, Yudith Nieto, Joshua Kahn Russell, Macdonald Stainsby, Clayton Thomas-Muller, Brian Tokar, Dave Vasey, Harsha Walia, Tony Weis, Rex Weyler, Will Wooten, Jess Worth, and Lilian Yap.

The editors’ proceeds from this book will be donated to frontline grassroots environmental justice groups and campaigns.

Sujets

• Extractive industry
• Global warming
• Climate change
• Indigenous peoples
• Front line
• Activism

Informations

• Publié par: PM Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781629630458
• Langue: English

Extrait

A LINE IN THE TAR SANDS
"The story of Greenhouse Goo is global. But so is its resistance: beautiful, complex, and rich. A Line in the Tar Sands is drawn with hope and righteous anger, celebrating the cosmologies that the tar sands industry and its politicians would destroy."
–Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved
"Opposition to the tar sands of Alberta and the pipelines that would carry their deadly crude has created one of the most potent civil society movements in our history. Led by grassroots and First Nations communities and fuelled by anger at the gutting of our freshwater heritage by the Harper government, this movement has the potential to change politics in Canada forever. Rich in detail and filled with hope, A Line in the Tar Sands tells the story of this movement and inspires a whole new generation to action."
–Maude Barlow, Council of Canadians
"Alberta tar sands oil, if fully exploited, will add enough carbon dioxide to the earth’s atmosphere to break the planetary carbon budget, unleashing untold, irreversible, worldwide ecological destruction. A massive, diverse people’s movement has arisen in response, drawing ‘a line in the sand’ before the fossil fuel juggernaut. A Line in the Tar Sands is the indispensable guide to this frontline struggle on behalf of humanity and the earth."
–John Bellamy Foster, co-author of What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know about Capitalism
"A Line in the Tar Sands weaves a holistic story of the history of the tar sands, the growth of the environmental movement, and Indigenous peoples determined to stop this insidious development."
–Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel, Indigenous human rights activist, Turtle Clan from Kanehsatà:ke Mohawk Territory
"The battle over Alberta bitumen pits malignant Petro-Capital against an inspiring and growing ensemble of activists. It has the feel of a Stalingrad in the war for a livable world: the stakes are that high. A Line in the Tar Sands tells this story superbly and with quiet passion. Here is a book for everyone who cares about the future."
–Joel Kovel, author of The Enemy of Nature
"Grounded learning comes from a cycle of action and reflection: we make change in the world, step back and assess our efforts, revise them, and then come back with more powerful and focused action. This is how our movements learn from one another and become more strategic and visionary. This book captures that action and reflection it starts with organizers from different parts of struggle, offering their insights and learnings. They’re woven together in this anthology to offer new ways of understanding the interconnected crises we face and to build a tool for solidarity."
–Sharon Lungo, The Ruckus Society
"In northern Alberta, the petroleum industry is engaged in the worst environmental crime in history. If business as usual continues in the tar sands, the world’s fast-warming climate will be pushed over the edge to disaster. A Line in the Tar Sands is essential reading about that crime, and about the growing movement to stop the tar sands criminals before they stop us."
–Ian Angus, editor of ClimateAndCapitalism.com, co-author of Too Many People? Population, Immigration, and the Environmental Crisis
"A Line in the Tar Sands elegantly connects migrant rights, human rights, rights of nature, indigenous sovereignty, and corporate concentration, and broadcasts a vision for ecological justice rooted in a healing movement of resistance, resilience, and restoration."
–Gopal Dayaneni, Movement Generation Justice and Ecology Project
"A Line in the Tar Sands brings us powerful stories and strategic insights from the organizers who are turning the multi-pronged frontlines of the problem into the frontlines of the solution. Tap into the momentum of the movement that is making the defusing of the tar sands bomb an international priority. Whether you are new to the fight or a veteran organizer, this book is for anyone who is part of building a sane, just, hopeful future from the ground up."
–Patrick Reinsborough and Christine Cordero, Center for Story-based Strategy

A Line in the Tar Sands: Struggles for Environmental Justice
Copyright © 2014 Stephen D’Arcy, Toban Black, Tony Weis, and Joshua Kahn Russell
First published in Canada in 2014 by Between the Lines
401 Richmond Street West, Studio 277, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8, Canada
1-800-718-7201
www.btlbooks.com
First published in the United States and the United Kingdom in 2014 by PM Press
PO Box 23912, Oakland, CA 94623
www.pmpress.org
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be photocopied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher or (for photocopying in Canada only) Access Copyright www.accesscopyright.ca .
Every reasonable effort has been made to identify copyright holders. Between the Lines would be pleased to have any errors or omissions brought to its attention.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
D’Arcy, Steve, 1968-, author
A line in the tar sands : struggles for environmental justice / Stephen D’Arcy, Tony Weis, Toban Black, Joshua Kahn Russell.
Includes index.
Co-published by: PM Press.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-77113-109-4 (pbk.).--ISBN 978-1-77113-110-0 (epub).--ISBN 978-1-77113-111-7 (pdf)
1. Oil sands industry--Environmental aspects--Alberta. 2. Oil sands--Environmental aspects--Alberta. 3. Environmental justice--Canada. I. Title.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014908063 ISBN 978 1 77113 109 4 Between the Lines paperback ISBN 978 1 6296 3039 7 PM Press paperback ISBN 978 1 77113 110 0 Between the Lines epub ISBN 978 1 77113 111 7 Between the Lines pdf
Interior design by David Vereschagin/Quadrat Communications
Back cover photo: Hereditary Chief Toghestiy of the Likhts’amisyu Clan and Wet’suwet’en Nation, at the Royal Bank of Canada shareholder meeting to confront them on their tar sands investments, 2010. Toghestiy is a supporter and organizer for the Unist’ot’en Camp.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the USA by the Employee Owners of Thomson-Shore in Dexter, Michigan.
www.thomsonshore.com
Between the Lines gratefully acknowledges assistance for its publishing activities from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund.
To those defending their communities from the tar sands industry, whose struggle for liberation helps liberate the entire planet.
To those working to build bridges and to un-build walls and borders, in service of broad-based multiracial mass movements.
To our elders and mentors, who remind us that the struggle has always been urgent, and that justice is a journey, not a destination.
To everyone doing their part to co-create a better world, which the tar sands industry has no place in.

The editors’ proceeds from this book will be donated to frontline grassroots environmental justice groups and campaigns.
Table of Contents
List of Contributors
Foreword NAOMI KLEIN AND BILL MCKIBBEN
Introduction: Drawing a Line in the Tar Sands TONY WEIS, TOBAN BLACK, STEPHEN D’ARCY, AND JOSHUA KAHN RUSSELL
Part I: Tar Sands Expansionism
1. Petro-Capitalism and the Tar Sands ANGELA V. CARTER
2. Assembling Consent in Alberta: Hegemony and the Tar Sands RANDOLPH HALUZA-DELAY
3. The Rise of Reactionary Environmentalism in the Tar Sands RYAN KATZ-ROSENE
4. Canadian Diplomatic Efforts to Sell the Tar Sands YVES ENGLER
5. The Environmental NGO Industry and Frontline Communities DAVE VASEY
6. Canada’s Eastward Pipelines: A Corporate Export Swindle, Confronted by Cross-Country Resistance MARTIN LUKACS
7. Migrant Justice and the Tar Sands Industry INTERVIEW WITH HARSHA WALIA BY JOSHUA KAHN RUSSELL
8. Responding to Chinese Investments in the Tar Sands HARJAP GREWAL
9. New Beginnings: Tar Sands Prospecting Abroad MACDONALD STAINSBY
Part II: Communities and Resistance
10. Awaiting Justice: The Ceaseless Struggle of the Lubicon Cree MELINA LABOUCAN-MASSIMO
11. Kihci Pikiskwewin Speaking the Truth CRYSTAL LAMEMAN
12. The Tar Sands Healing Walk JESSE CARDINAL
13. Petro-Chemical Legacies and Tar Sands Frontiers: Chemical Valley versus Environmental Justice TOBAN BLACK
14. Beyond Token Recognition: The Growing Movement against the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project TYLER McCREARY
15. Culture Works CHRISTINE LECLERC AND REX WEYLER
16. Lessons from Direct Action at the White House to Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline JOSHUA KAHN RUSSELL, LINDA CAPATO, MATT LEONARD, AND RAE BREAUX
17. Gulf Coast Resistance and the Southern Leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline CHERRI FOYTLIN, YUDITH NIETO, KERRY LEMON, AND WILL WOOTEN
18. The Enbridge Pipeline Disaster and Accidental Activism along the Kalamazoo River SONIA GRANT
19. Getting Europe Out of the Tar Sands: The Rise of the UK Tar Sands Network JESS WORTH
20. Labour Faces Keystone XL and Climate Change JEREMY BRECHER AND THE LABOR NETWORK FOR SUSTAINABILITY
Part III: Future Prospects
21. Ending the Age of Fossil Fuels and Building an Economics for the Seventh Generation WINONA LADUKE
22. The Rise of the Native Rights-Based Strategic Framework: Our Last Best Hope to Save Our Water, Air, and Earth CLAYTON THOMAS-MULLER
23. Pipeli