Canadian Youth Set To Tackle Tar Sands at 3-Day Conference

CYCC National Youth Climate Summit

Young people fucking (with the tar sands)

SCOTT HARRIS / scott@vueweekly.com

A war of words is shaping up south of the border over the future of the Alberta tar sands, adding even more voices to the acrimonious debate already raging in Alberta and across Canada.

The annual meeting of the US Conference of Mayors recently passed a non-binding resolution calling on cities to reject oil derived from the tar sands, prompting the governors of Montana and Idaho to defend oil coming from their northern neighbour. Environmental groups took out full-page ads and wrote letters warning of the environmental impact of the tar sands to the western governors as they met with the western premiers to discuss energy and climate change. Greenpeace has launched a satirical provincial tourism website—travelingalberta.com—encouraging visitors to “experience an Oil Sands vacation in beautiful northern Alberta.” Premier Ed Stelmach continues to strike back, calling criticisms of the tar sands “disgusting” and pledging to “get the correct information out there.”

But a coalition of Canada’s youth environmental groups say that despite all the recent debate about the future of the oil trapped in the sand of northern Alberta, the voices of young people still aren’t being heard on the issue. It’s a situation that organizers of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition’s National Youth Climate Summit hope to remedy when they meet in Edmonton Jul 4 – 6.