Canada's Oil Sands Emit More CO2 Than 145 Nations

A single industrial project is so massively polluting that its greenhouse gas emissions are larger than 145 nations, according to the Toronto Star. Maybe more impressive, there are only 62 nations emit more carbon dioxide.

It is the Alberta Oil Sands, and its fate has everything to do with global warming and peak oil.

Experts that discount the peak oil theory – that the world is close to pumping as much cheap, high-quality crude oil as it ever will – say that new technology will allow us to exploit heretofore inaccessible oil deposits, like oil sands, oil shale and deep water deposits.

To appropriate a campaign phrase: Yes, we can.

But do we really want to? The choice is to continue pumping oil from whatever source we can, the climate be damned, or switch to alternative fuels now, before we run out or run up a climate debt the future will be paying off for generations to come.

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