It’s no secret that Canada is squandering its reputation as a nice, progressive place to live by letting the oil industry mine oil sands. It’s gotten to the point that Canadian group Eco Justice is fighting in court for more legal rights for clean water and clean air. This video provides a short overview and, perhaps more importantly, some really lovely graphic design.
To be fair, local Brazilian leaders had to fight hard years before 1988 to get polluters to stop dumping their nastiness in Cubatao. As the New York Times reported in 1991:
Mr. Zulauf [the head of the state’s environmental agency] recalled businessmen’s reactions in December 1983, when he ordered companies to comply with existing anti-pollution regulations.
“The industrialists immediately started telephoning the governor,” he recalled, referring to Franco Montoro. “But the governor refused to take their calls. He told them to see me.”
Even if this Canadian community wins the rights it’s hoping for, its residents will still need officials to enforce them. It’s going to be a long road: Cubatao only started getting help after it had been declared one of the 10 most polluted places on the planet, and we’re hoping the situation in Sarnia won’t get that bad.
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