Joe Hengel's Essay #3: Tar Sands Oil Is Killing Our Planet

A Canada goose covered in oil attempts to fly out of the Kalamazoo river in Marshall, Michigan. The tar sands spill will cost at least $700m to clean up. Photograph: Jonathon Gruenke/AP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn27U4JNUfA

The NRDC Ad Campaign for Renewable Power Is Important

Because the Dirty Energy from Tar Sands Oil Threatens our Planet

There are a few people who enjoy watching commercials. The majority tolerates them, and some people outright hate them. I am one of them, to the extent that I do not watch TV at all and try hard to avoid any Internet advertising. I think commercials are stupid, boring, and try to sell overpriced merchandise that nobody needs. The term ‘infomercial’ is corporations’ even more deceptive attempt to sugarcoat their lies. However, I recently found one advertisement that is good and necessary. Promoting the alternative of clean renewable energy,  the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) video campaign “Robert Redford: Tar Sands Oil Is Killing Our Planet“ is good and important right now because the dirty power from the tar sands in Alberta puts everybody on this planet at risk and President Obama will make a decision about the related Keystone XL Pipeline soon (Gardner np).

This video ad for the real alternative of clean energy, solar and wind, shows the actor Robert Redford as narrator, amongst others famous for his roles in The Horse Whisperer and Out of Africa. He also got an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. He is casually dressed, not in suit and tie, showing that he is one of us who has the best of the audience in mind. The video ad uses the stark contrast between a green environment versus the grim black and gray ravaged landscape that remains after mining for tar sands oil. At one point, the picture is split to emphasize this contrast. The locale goes back and forth from the good scenery, for instance the narrator standing on a meadow in front of greenery or the beautiful Canadian forest belt, and the bad one, the tar sands mine and the pipeline. These pictures of the mine and the associated pipeline do not leave a lot to the audience’s imagination because they show the devastating results of exploiting this dirty energy. Movement also conveys a message. On one occasion, the camera zooms in on solar panels, during another picture, it zooms out of the tar sands mining operation to show the way to go. There is a distinct correlation between the abovementioned pictures, Robert Redford’s narration that emphasizes the causality, and the sound. While “actor-activist Robert Redford “concisely explains why the tar sands are good for oil companies but deadly for the Earth”, dramatic classic-orchestra-style music is played in the background, but not as loud as sometimes in action movies since it does not overpower the important message (Angus np). Toward the end when the topic changes to the promotion of clean energy, the music blends in to uplifting piano music. The choice of words seems intentional, for instance “killing” is associated with death of fish caused by the pipeline and “destroying” with the remaining toxic moonscape after tars sands mining. The ad is not idealizing, neither does it have to use commodification, because it does not advertise a doubtful or overpriced consumer product. It rationally depicts the environmental and climatic havoc that tar sands mining wreaks. The video with Robert Redford is only part of the NRDC’s strategy because there are more ads with the actresses Kyra Sedgwick and Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the environmental advocate and civil rights activist Van Jones. By using celebrities of different ages and races, the NRDC tries to reach as broad an audience as possible.

The NRDC ad campaign uses the unstated warrant that a green environment is good for everybody and sustainable energy provides a green environment. On a more transcendent level, it infers that it is good and normal for humans to live in harmony with nature because every human needs clean air and water to survive. Epidemics increasingly ravage regions without uncontaminated potable water. So far, mostly children and older people suffer from polluted air. However, in the light of the ever-increasing population, it is only a question of time until the harsh reality catches up with everybody everywhere. For instance, Beijing is already suffering the worst smog scenery in history. Opponents might claim that Global Warming is a myth, but the recent climate change all over the earth proves them wrong, a view that is supported by the majority of independent scientists.

I consider this ad very important because it addresses an urgent and real issue instead of trying to sell overpriced merchandise or outright superfluous junk. The NRDC, who has a long history of suing perpetrators against the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts, lobbies for renewable energy as opposed to the incredibly dirty power from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, that also requires the unsafe and polluting Keystone XL Pipeline to transport the crude oil to the processing plants at the Gulf of Mexico. The dirty oil from the tars sands threatens humanity’s very existence by its disproportional contribution to the carbon footprint and the pipeline, which will go through a huge aquifer, endangers the already shrinking drinking water supply. Similar, almost new pipelines are already springing leaks. Only the corporations running the mine and the pipeline profit from this venture while we, the people, pay the price. The NRDC tries to motivate concerned citizens to contact President Obama to influence his pending decision so that he rejects the construction of the dangerous pipeline. It is immensely important that he rules in the interest of the people and denies the permission to continue with this disastrous project. The president’s final decision is to be expected next year after the State Department has finished the environmental review that already causes a lot of controversy (Gardner np). A pending investigation conducted by the State Department’s independent inspector general about conflict of interest allegations against the company that did the environmental review will benefit from the additional time (Gardner np). However, the main controversy is around the review’s finding that building the pipeline will not make any difference because the tar sands oil can be easily marketed through other avenues (Gardner np). This is not true because the Keystone XL Pipeline alone will increase tar sands mining by 36%, and “is the linchpin for Big Oil’s plan to more than triple tar sands production over the next 20 years - and the climate disruption that will follow” (Sinpetry np, “Robert Redford leads prominent Americans” np). Without the pipeline, marketing the tars sands oil is successfully hampered and the direct danger from the pipeline averted. Opponents would also claim here that building the pipeline creates jobs, but they would be only temporary and not for the local people while the water pollution remains for generations to come.

We have to be thankful that a non-profit organization like the NRDC exists, which fights multinational corporations and the politicians on their pay lists, the worst environmental perpetrators, on their own turf: in public advertisements and in court. The mining operation for the Alberta tar sands oil is already going on, but the associated Keystone XL Pipeline would increase the market share of this dirty energy to disastrous proportions. However, the NRDC is taking action. Their well-designed video campaign, promoting real alternatives with wind and solar energy, was launched at an appropriate time and is necessary to try to prevent worse Global Warming and more water contamination. Now we can only hope that President Obama listens to the people who elected him, heeds common sense, and prevents the pipeline from getting built to prevent a disaster of unheard proportions.

Works cited

Laura Sinpetry. “The Keystone XL Pipeline Will Up Tar Sands Production by 36%, Report Says.” News.softpedia.com. Softpedia. 30 August 2013. Web. 17 November 2013

“Robert Redford Leads Prominent Americans Who Demand Clean Power.” NRDC.org. Press Release, 16 September 2013. Web. 17 November 2013.

Timothy Gardner. “U.S. Decision on Keystone XL Pipeline Likely to Slip into 2014”. Reuters.com. Reuters. 10 September 2013. Web. 11 November 2013

Ian Angus. “Video: Robert Redford condemns tar sands development.” Climateandcapitalism.com. Climate &Capitalism, 17 September 2013. Web. 17 November 2013