ACTION: Stop the Tar Sands!

FROM NATURE MANITOBA:

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Canada's tar sands are a grave danger to millions of birds and other wildlife.

The tar sands release three times as many greenhouse gases as conventional oil, consume massive amounts of water, and pollute essential habitat for birds and other wildlife.

Let the Canadian Government know that you're concerned -

Sign the petition

 

The Petition Letter:

Dear Prime Minister Harper,

Tar sands operations inside Canada's Boreal Forest threaten to destroy or fragment vast lakes, rivers, forests and wetlands that provide nesting grounds for millions of birds.

Therefore, I urge the Government of Canada to declare a moratorium on any new tar sands development and to implement stricter environmental controls over existing operations. The environmental and human health costs are simply too high.

The tar sands are by far the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases in Canada, producing as much as three times the amount of greenhouse gases as conventional oil production. In addition, production and refining operations produce huge emissions of toxins, from nitrogen oxides that acidify hundreds of square kilometres, to cadmium and arsenic that cause cancer.

Recent mass bird death incidents show that even with preventive efforts in place, massive toxic settling ponds continue to pose a danger to birds. As waterfowl and shorebirds return from migration journeys thousands of kilometres long, they face death from swimming in or drinking from the ponds

Scientific research predicts that the tar sands could lead to the loss of more than 160 million birds over the next 30 to 50 years because of the elimination of habitat and deaths from water contamination or drowning in tailings ponds.

It is time to put the brakes on development of the world's dirtiest form of oil, and to protect migratory bird populations in the Boreal Forest.

Thank you for considering my views.