Tar Sands Action Toolkit

Tar Sands Action Toolkit

Table of Contents Introduction to Taking Action....................................................................... 2 Tar Sands Background Information............................................................. 3 How to Plan an Action................................................................................. 6 Action Ideas................................................................................................. 9 Talking Points............................................................................................ 11 ForestEthics Contact Information.............................................................. 12

Introduction to Taking Action Thanks for taking action with ForestEthics to Stop the Tar Sands. It’s time to let people in the U.S. know about the dirty destruction coming from the Canadian tar sands and the devastating impact it will have on the Canadian Boreal Forest, the surrounding communities and wildlife, and the green energy future of North America. The United States imports 75% of all tar sands oil. ForestEthics is campaigning both North and South of the U.S. – Canadian border to stop the tar sands. We will need your help in the future to pressure corporations and governments to abandon tar sands oil. By organizing and taking action, you can help educate your community and mobilize opposition to the tar sands, so that you’ll be ready for the next step of our campaign in the United States. This packet will provide background information on the tar sands and ideas and tools to take action. We at ForestEthics are excited to work with you on whatever you are organizing, so please call and email us to let us know your plans. If you’ve never organized a political event before, we can help talk you through the details. Thanks for all that you do.

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TAR SANDS BACKGROUND INFORMATION Canada isn't just the pristine place of moose and maple syrup anymore. It's home to the tar sands; a moonscape of environmental destruction. Tar sands are being supported by our governments and developed by major oil companies (Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Shell, BP, Syncrude, Exxon and many more) as a last resort to harvest oil. In a few short years, they've dashed almost all hope of a clean, healthy future in the name of 'secure energy' and profits - and they've only just begun. But

at what

cost? Read up.

What exactly are the tar sands? The tar sands operations are fossil fuel production enterprises in northeastern Alberta, operated by over a dozen of the top multinational oil companies. Although tar sands technology began developing many years ago, the industry has only been commercially viable within the last 2-3 years, due to peak oil prices. Currently, tar sands developments add up to an area roughly the state of Florida. There are 2 main processes for harvesting tar sands oil. The first is essentially strip mining, and the second is a process more akin to traditional drilling called steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), or in-situ drilling. For the first method, an area must be 'prepared' to extract the oil-steeped tar, e.g. the Boreal Forest must be clearcut and the crust of the earth must be dug up to expose the tar. When the tar is collected, it is infused with countless chemicals including benzene and arsenic and heavy metals such as lead and mercury. This chemical cocktail is called bitumen. The bitumen is then boiled with super-heated steam- lots of it- over 500 million gallons of water daily to be exact. Oil is then separated from the chemicals and the toxic sludge is disposed of, e.g. it is dumped into behemoth pits called tailings ponds. These 'ponds' are not lined or covered- they leak straight into the ground and their toxic fumes are released into the air. With in-situ drilling, the tar sands are located too far beneath the surface to dig up. So the process of creating bitumen and boiling it is done underground. The oil rises to the surface like a traditional oil well and the toxic runoff remains in the earth, seeping into groundwater and bleeding up into the soil. With either process, the environmental and health impacts are extremely negative. Local communities and wildlife are exposed to deadly toxins and carcinogens. The operation has very little oversight, even less accountability, and absolutely no impetus to change.

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Almost all the oil produced by tar sands is exported out of Canada, to its most voracious consumer- the US. We've tasted the Canadian Crude and we're totally addicted. Our only hope for change is to take action and to aggressively pressure President Obama to keep dirty tar sands out of the US and in the ground where it belongs.

Craving to know more? Here are some startling facts that will get under your skin, boil your blood, and move you to spread awareness: Climate

-Tar sands development require massive

-Producing a barrel of oil from the oil sands

clearcutting of the Boreal Forest, the largest

produces 3-5 times more greenhouse gas

remaining unspoiled forest and wetland ecosystem

emissions than a barrel of conventional oil.

and one of the most biodiverse carbon sinks on

-By 2015, the Tar Sands are expected to emit more Earth. Tar sands mining and drilling causes greenhouse gases than the nation of Denmark.

significant habitat loss and fragmentation.

-Tar Sands operations currently use almost 1 billion -Canada’s Boreal forest is a globally important cubic feet of natural gas daily.

destination for birds. It is estimated that half of

-The tar sands oil has single-handedly nullified

America’s migratory birds nest in the Boreal forest,

Canada's ability to reach its Kyoto Protocol

and that over the next 30–50 years as many as 166

Agreement targets.

million birds could perish due to tar sands development.

Water -Tar sands mining is licensed to use twice the

Communities

amount of fresh water that the entire city of Calgary -Communities downstream of the tar sands and (a city of 3 million) uses in a year.

some First Nations, such as the Fort Chipewyan,

-At least 90% of the fresh water used in the oil

are suffering high levels of cancer because of the

sands ends up in ends up in tailing ponds so toxic

human and ecological health crisis, the climate

that propane cannons are used to keep birds from

change impacts, and the damages to water and air

landing. Yet the ponds result in 8,000 to 10,000

quality.

oiled and drowned birds annually.

-The oil companies have a chokehold on their

-The toxic tailing ponds span 80 square miles and

workers and have consequently destroyed the local

can be seen from space.

communities. In fact, the mayor of one town warned that she could not promise a community that was safe and functional.

Forests and Biodiversity

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So what are our demands? ForestEthics is calling on the Canadian government to stop all expansion of tar sands and to: •

impose and enforce clean air, clean water, and forest protection regulations;

•

create new protected areas in the region;

•

enforce hard caps on Tar Sands emissions rather than 'intensity' targets that will allow overall emissions to continue to rise;

•

respect Aboriginal rights and title in the region.

ForestEthics is also calling on President Obama to create a new energy economy based on clean, innovative solutions. Any clean energy future must include provisions that reduce greenhouse gasses wherever and whenever possible. Hence, our new energy economy cannot include dirty Tar Sands oil. We urge President Obama to strengthen US and Canadian economies by agreeing to move aggressively towards a sustainable future that focuses on clean energy.

Other excellent resources: Boreal Songbird Initiative www.borealbirds.org/tarsands.shtml Indigenous Environmental Network www.ienearth.org/cits.html No Dirty Energy

www.nodirtyenergy.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=41&Itemid=76 Oil Sands Truth www.oilsandstruth.org Oil Sands Watch www.oilsandswatch.org “Scraping Bottom” (from National Geographic)

www.ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/canadian-oil-sands/kunzig-text/1 Stop Tar Sands Operations Permanently www.stoptarsands.wordpress.com Tar Sands Free British Columbia www.tarsandsfreebc.org Tar Sands Watch www.tarsandswatch.org

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How to Plan an Action Get in touch with us to let us know what you’re planning and how we can help. The following is a helpful checklist of some of the things you should do before, during, and after the event. TWO TO THREE WEEKS BEFORE EVENT •

Choose your site for the event. The key to these events is finding an area where lots of people gathered or pass through during the day. Examples include farmer’s markets, downtown areas, college campuses, public parks, around public transit stops, etc. Another factor to consider is the message you send with your location choice – your messaging will be different if you are addressing a county fair than if you are in front of a gas station or the office of your government representative.

•

Set a time and specific meeting-place for the event. Make sure you choose a time when there will be lots of people passing by. If you want to attract media to your event, a weekday morning is the easiest time to do it. However, if your main goal is to get our a lot of volunteers and sign up new supporters, a weekend afternoon may be great.

•

Speak at meetings, table at events, and generate lists of interested volunteers. You want your event to be stellar, right? So you've got to recruit! The bigger the event, the better. But to do that, you're going to need a crowd and helpers. Hence, outreaching and networking is clutch.

•

Call environmental groups and other interested parties in the area and invite them. Show that tar sands is an issue everyone cares about. Be inclusive and reach out to allies, traditional and nontraditional.

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Find environmentalists online in your area via meetup.com, facebook.com, myspace.com etc…

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Send out an invitation to e-mail lists and post on online calendars.

•

Have an action-planning party. This is an important step, as you will be able to catch any snags, tie up loose ends, and brainstorm some fantastic new ideas with your growing group of activists. •

Make all props and write skits. Be crazy, be creative but keep it simpleoften times the most straightforward visuals and messages are the most powerful. Not to mention, overly complicated ideas take more time and are more likely to go wrong.

•

Discuss and decide what message and image you want to create and 6

what elements will create that. Again, keep it simple- you want people to take one glance and know what your cause is. •

Think about having speakers too. Speakers could reflect the diversity of your activists- business owners, elected officials, professors, parents, frontline community members, etc.

ONE WEEK BEFORE •

Call those who said they were interested and ask them to attend your event. Follow-up work will be the single most important factor to ensuring that people actually show up to your event.

•

Create visibility around your event by postering, flyering, and chalking.

•

Finalize specific roles such as media spokesperson, chant leader, police liaison, worker liaison, emcee, props manager, scout, etc. This is to not only ensure that you're not scrambling at the action when you realize a job hasn't been done, but also to ensure that the best people for the jobs are handling them.

•

Coordinate and gather cameras. Ask around for people who would want to shoot the event and for equipment like cameras and camcorders.

•

Coordinate transportation to and from event if needed. Make sure that people attending aren't stranded. Know how you'll get your props to the site before the event starts.

•

Do a site check. Scout out the area and determine where people should march, park, stand, where signs and/or banners should be held, where the best photos/videos could be taken from, where media can meet the spokesperson, etc.

TWO DAYS AND THE DAY BEFORE •

Call and confirm all the people who said they’d be there. Remind remind remind! Convey to people how important their presence will be. This is your final attendance numbers check.

•

Finalize your own program and schedule.

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Check signs, props, and how they're getting to the site.

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Check visual equipment and people helping record.

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Practice skits and talking points.

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Print out chants so everyone can be involved.

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Check that you have enough hand-out materials.

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THE DAY OF THE ACTION •

ARRIVE EARLY! Get there at least 30 min

beforehand to greet people and to allocate time just in case any last minute problems arise. •

Bring your materials. Postcards to sign, factsheets

to hand out, clipboards and pens for postcards, cameras and videocameras, signs and props. •

Have the basics to stay safe and comfortable. Water, snacks, sunscreen, trashbags, etc.

AFTER THE EVENT •

Send details and pictures to us right away. Send stuff to the Organizing Team at

[email protected] so we can get them up on the website to maximize the action’s impact. •

Contact interested and involved parties. Call and email publications telling them all about your event. Write to supporting organizations thanking them for their help and that you hope to work with them in the future.

•

DEBRIEF and assess the action. You might be tired and it's easy to let this slide, but this is a very important tool to learn from your event and to grow as a group and as a movement. Determine whether you met your goals. What worked, what didn’t. What could you have done better? What would you change for next time?

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Celebrate! Remember to congratulate yourselves- you deserve it!

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ACTION IDEAS We demand a clean, just energy future! A huge shift is occurring in the political landscape of the United States, and the move is being driven by people like you. Environmental activists across the country and world are working hard to solve the climate crisis and save endangered habitats. During his campaign for presidency, Barack Obama made it clear that he supports a new policy focused on clean, renewable energy. Even so, the United States is the largest importer of dirty Tar Sands oil, which has catastrophic consequences at both a local and global level. Tar Sands oil has no place in our clean energy future. We need to end the tar sands, and we can start in our own communities. Here are 2 simple ideas to either use or to jumpstart brainstorming. Whatever you come up with, be fun, be creative, be kooky, be surprising. STREET THEATRE One way your group could creatively portray this message is by performing some fun street theater! What you’ll need: Several friends Cut out maple leaves Green tshirts or tops Cardboard Paint A black sheet or bucket(s) and streamers, taped to the inside of the bucket(s) What it might look like: A few people could be dressed in all green to signify clean energy, wearing painted cardboard wind turbines or suns, acting happy and heroically. These people could even struggle to raise a wind turbine together. Other people wearing maple leaves and acting devious and sinister could “douse” the greenies or the turbine effort in a black sheet, or a bucket full of black streamers. You would be acting out what Canada’s Tar Sands does to our clean energy efforts. 500 DUCKS In case you haven’t heard this toxic tale, we’ve got a story to highlight just how dirty the Tar Sands are. About a year ago, a flock of ducks landed on a “pond” which was a ‘settling basin’ for Syncrude Oil. Five hundred of those ducks died in the tailings pond. This powerful story got a lot of media attention in Canada, but almost none in the United States. As a country that imports so much Tar Sands oil, we deserve to know the level of toxicity results from this irresponsible oil. 9

Another action your group can take is to recreate the story of the five hundred ducks Ways you could recreate: crafting ducks out of an elementary school’s old milk cartons, borrowing a lot of rubber duckies making ducks out of 2-liter soda bottles gathering a large group of people dressed in duck costumes What it could look like: You can either release the duckies into a pond, a fountain, a kiddie pool, or spread them out on a black tarp to symbolize the sludge-filled tailings pond where these ducks died. Or dressed as ducks, you could hold a die-in at places of oil consumption or places where big oil consumers are.

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Talking Points Climate change is a real security issue. We are familiar with the devastating effects of Katrina, rampant wildfires in the west, violent storms on the east coast, and biblical floods in the south. America is ravaged by man-made climate change. •

The production of one barrel Tar Sands oil releases 3-5 times more greenhouse gas emissions that of conventional oil. This is a significant contribution to climate change, and threatens the safety of out nation.

•

The Tar Sands are devastating Alberta’s Boreal Forest, one of the planet’s largest terrestrial storehouses of carbon.

This is not simply a Canadian issue, this is an American issue, too. •

75% of Tar Sands oil is imported into the United States for use.

•

The Canadian Tar Sands are the number one source of oil coming into the United States.

What world will future generations have to inherit? •

Canada’s Tar Sands project is devastating wildlife habitats and destroying landscapes.

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Over the next 30–50 years as many as 166 million birds could perish due to tar sands development.

•

Tar Sands tailings ponds, where the toxic byproducts of oil extraction are dumped, are so large that they can be seen from space.

Tar sands fuel corporations, not people. •

Converting tar to oil requires huge quantities of natural gas, water and energy.

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Tar sands mining is licensed to use twice the amount of fresh water that the entire city of Calgary (a city of 3 million) uses in a year.

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Tar Sands operations currently use almost 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily.

This is more than an environmental issue, this is a human health issue. •

Since Tar Sands tailings ponds are not lined underneath, toxic chemicals leach into the soil and groundwater. The Fort Chipewyan First Nation community, which is downstream from the Tar Sands, has noted the development of a large cancer cluster in their population since the start of Tar Sands development. 11

We need to hold our elected officials accountable, especially President Obama. He promised to work

towards a clean future and green economy. We need •

Enforced fuel emission standards

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a real commitment to fighting climate change by investing in clean energy, not dirty fossil fuels.

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to develop green jobs here in the U.S.. This can happen by kick-starting the US renewable energy market, and kicking our addiction to fossil fuels from Canada.

ForestEthics Contact Information Forest Ethics Organizing Team [email protected]

415.863.4563

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