Visiting the Canadian oil sands
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A long line of busses (35 when I was there in 2015) can be seen along the 40 km road that connects Fort McMurray and Syncrude gates. These busses bring employees to the worksite to start their shift and then pick up those who are at the end of the workday and need to go back to their homes.
The city is soulless. The oil sands workers, mostly migrants, who go out do not have many options for recreational activities that do not involve alcohol. The salaries used to be very high and thus attractive to unskilled workers from all over the world. The decline in oil prices (from USD 53 to USD 31 a barrel) has had a massive effect on the region, with a loss of almost 20,000 jobs in 2015 alone (in previous years, employment was growing though). |
The hidden costs of our lifestyle![]() I came home feeling uncomfortable. Leaving aside the impacts for the environment and the original people, I experienced for a few hours the harsh living conditions of thousands of migrant workers. It resonated with my research on the asbestos industry and the oppressive working conditions that asbestos workers endured in the course of the 20th century all over the world (and still endure in some countries).
The company itself does not seem to be the problem: its conduct of business seems reasonable (I expected more pollution and dirt) and the product that comes our of the oil sans is something that we (the residents of North America, Europe and the more advanced economies) desperately need to sustain our lifestyles. That's where the problem seems to lie: in the demand. The experience made me reflect on the hidden costs of our lifestyle and my role as a scholar and educator on bringing these issues to the attention of more audiences so that we make better informed choices in our daily lives and possible diminish the impact of our lifestyles on those (oil workers and local communities) who make it possible for us to enjoy our lifestyle without sharing much benefits. |