Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

limpyhobbler

(8,244 posts)
Wed May 8, 2013, 03:45 PM May 2013

‘No such thing as ethical oil,’ Al Gore tells Toronto audience

IVAN SEMENIUK The Globe and Mail - May 7. updated May. 08 2013

Declaring that “American democracy has been hacked,” former U.S. vice-president Al Gore told a Toronto audience that his countrymen needed to wake up to the special interests that have a grip on the levers of power in the U.S. Congress and are able to block legislation on a range of policy issues including his signature cause, global climate change.

Mr. Gore added that he felt action on climate change was possible, indeed inevitable, once it was viewed by enough people as a matter of personal values. “When these kind of issues settle into a choice between right and wrong, then the moral clarity that eventually develops makes it possible to move quickly.”

In a public interview with The Globe and Mail’s editor-in-chief, John Stackhouse, Mr. Gore also spoke of his wish that U.S. president Barack Obama would cancel the Keystone XL pipeline intended to transport heavy crude from the Alberta oil sands to U.S. refineries. In part because oil-sands crude requires more energy to extract than conventional sources, and so produces more greenhouse gases per barrel, he suggested that the full social and environmental cost of developing the oil sands made it a more expensive proposition than a faster move by the U.S. to renewable sources.

When Mr. Stackhouse asked whether Alberta oil was more ethical because it came from a democratic nation with a commitment to human rights, Mr. Gore rejected the term.
...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/no-such-thing-as-ethical-oil-al-gore-tells-toronto-audience/article11777256/
2 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
‘No such thing as ethical oil,’ Al Gore tells Toronto audience (Original Post) limpyhobbler May 2013 OP
He's quite right. Ethical Oil is an Oxymoron. PDJane May 2013 #1
Yep. Al Gore seems to be pretty good on this issue. limpyhobbler May 2013 #2

PDJane

(10,103 posts)
1. He's quite right. Ethical Oil is an Oxymoron.
Wed May 8, 2013, 04:32 PM
May 2013

I would point out that First Nations land was denuded and destroyed to get at that oil; an area the size of Florida has been completely denuded, earth, peat and bitumen removed.

Removal of this stuff destroys the water table, too; there's nothing ethical about it.

This is true of fracking and mountaintop removal.

Latest Discussions»Retired Forums»Al Gore»‘No such thing as ethical...