Stupid to the Last Drop by William Marsden is without question the definitive guide to Canada’s oil sands and what Marsden describes as ‘environmental armageddon’. In fact, the full title to his beautifully researched, and absolutely riveting book is: Stupid to the Last Drop: How Alberta is Bringing Environmental Armageddon to Canada (And Doesn’t Seem To Care). Marsden, an award-winning journalist with the Montreal Gazette, has provided a detailed account of the oil industry in Alberta and how that industry is now threatening to destroy the entire province.
The oil sands in Alberta, Canada, occupy about 148,000 square kilometres – roughly the size of Florida. Marsden describes it as "…the oil capital of the world –the new Saudi Arabia". Stupid to the Last Drop painstakingly documents the levelling of the Boreal forest to access the oil sands, the creation of tens of thousands of gas wells, the water waste, poisoned rivers, impact on communities, politician corruption and companies that will stop at nothing to squeeze every last resource out of Alberta.
Marsden writes that Alberta is digging, drilling and blasting its way to oblivion, becoming the ultimate symbol of Canada’s – and the world’s – pathological will to self-destruct. Our world now consumes 6 barrels of oil for each new barrel discovered. As the world’s supply of oil runs out, companies and governments are now going after oil that was considered too difficult to access or too costly – like the oil sands in Alberta.
…God, appearing in the shape of the oil well, has indeed given dominion over the earth.
With numerous companies from around the world owning a stake in the oil production, what is happening in Alberta is not just the fault of the Albertan government. The destructive greed that is driving the mining in Alberta is shared, not only by the government that makes a fortune each year from the oil sands, but also by the companies with billion dollar profits, and the continuing consumer demand for fossil fuels.
“…God, appearing in the shape of the oil well, has indeed given dominion over the earth,” writes Marsden. The oil dominion cannot last forever. With all these resources rapidly running out, an armageddon – in one form or another – may arrive a lot quicker than the world could have imagined.
Marsden has written a riveting environmental thriller – the only problem is his best-selling book is not fiction. Stupid to the Last Drop is a must read for every Canadian and for everyone around the world that idealizes and mythologizes Canada as a bastion of environmental stewardship.
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Visit: http://www.randomhouse.ca/
Publisher: Random House
246 Pages
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