to be our "advanced' material
civilization, replete with modern technologies, physical comforts and
consumerism. What is often not properly acknowledged, or even
recognized, are the many costs: environmental, social, economic and
political. Losses are incurred at every step of exploration, extraction,
transportation and use of fossil fuels. Reducing our dependence on
fossil fuels can provide not just the financial means but also the
political and social space for development of more sustainable human
communities. This will in turn allow for the survival and prosperity of
the many other species that enrich and enable our lives and livelihoods.
Fossil fuels : finite and
non-renewable
Fossil fuels comprise coal, oil and natural gas.
All fossil fuels are literally "fossils", i.e., the remains of
thick layers of either land vegetation or marine plankton that died
millions of years ago and were then buried and folded into the earth,
heated and compressed to be transformed into either a type of
sedimentary rock (coal) or deposits of liquid hydrocarbons (oil and
gas). Depending on the original vegetation type and the geological
history, different deposits of coal, oil and gas end up with different
chemical compositions and heating values. Thus, some deposits are
relatively rich in sulfur, others are more or less endowed with heavy
metals such as arsenic and mercury.
The most desirable product, a low-sulfur, free flowing oil, is
relatively rare because this develops only under a narrow range of
pressure and temperature conditions. Because it has taken literally
millions of years for most fossil fuel deposits to develop, and because
they were formed during periods of intense vegetative development that
differ from current conditions, these deposits, like metals, are finite
and effectively non-renewable. There is a limited amount present in the
earth’s crust and once that has been mined, there will be no more.
However, running out of fossil fuels is actually not our most serious
concern. Current science indicates that the impacts of climate change
will be severe and probably irreversible if we burn more than one
quarter of the known commercial reserves. So, we need to stop exploring
for fossil fuels we can never hope to use, and start investing seriously
in the alternatives.
History of fossil fuel extraction
and use in Canada
Coal has been mined in Canada since the first mine opened at Grand
Lake, N.B. in 1639, but true commercial production in NB began in 1825.
However, 97% of Canada's coal deposits are actually in the western
provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and this is
currently the source of over 90% of the coal mined in the country. Up
until the 1950's, when oil and gas squeezed coal out of many markets,
coal was the primary source of fuel for home heating, industrial energy
and transportation. Coal now supplies only 11% of Canada’s energy, and
it is used mostly in coal-fired power plants. Because the major coal
deposits are far from Ontario’s industrial heartland, almost half of
the coal burned in Canada is imported from the United States, to save on
transportation costs.
Oil replaced coal as Canada’s most important fuel after World War
II. In addition to standard oil deposits, synthetic crude oil is also
refined from bitumen, or tar sands deposits in Alberta. The tar sands
represent a major fuel reserve, but generating oil from the bitumen is
still prohibitively expensive. It is also environmentally unacceptable
because of the large-scale habitat destruction and atmospheric emissions
associated with extracting and refining the bitumen.
Since the 1970's, natural gas has gained importance. Prior to the
rapid petroleum price increase of the 70's, natural gas had been treated
as a waste product of oil wells and simply burned off. Since then,
transportation pipelines and storage systems have been built, and this
fuel is now replacing oil for industrial, residential and commercial
heating, as well as for petrochemical production. Recently, large
reserves of natural gas have been identified, first in the west, then
offshore of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and in the Arctic.
Fossil fuels and future
sustainability
Clearly, the exploration, development and use of fossil fuels
conflicts in many ways with other, potentially sustainable economic
activities that are based on renewable resources such as farming,
fishing, forestry and tourism. Looking at Atlantic Canada in particular,
serious concerns have already been raised by fishermen, First Nations,
tourism operators and environmentalists about the proposed development
of oil and gas in the sensitive fishing grounds of the southern Gulf of
St Lawrence. The proposed petroleum development areas support roughly
20,000 fishery workers and include important migratory corridors for
fishes and marine mammals as well as fish spawning and nursery habitats.
There are alternatives to fossil fuels and their associated
petrochemicals that are more earth-friendly and that still allow for
jobs and economic activity. Also, since fossil fuels are a finite
resource it makes strategic sense to prepare for a world where they are
no longer available. We should see this challenge as an opportunity.
Once we free our minds to envision a future where personal development,
health, good governance, regional self-sufficiency and biodiversity are
the intentional goals, we can go about replacing our stressful,
destructive, highly centralized and consumption-driven systems. There
are wonderful opportunities to rethink and rebuild human communities and
their transportation, waste management and heating systems, and to
rehabilitate and conserve agricultural soil, fresh water, forests,
oceans and wildlife habitats.
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(photo: Roger Davies)
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Various studies performed by the United States government show that
the benefits of reducing fossil fuel consumption far outweigh the costs.
Oil industry lobbyists insist that economic losses to the oil industry
will damage our economy. However, even the most vocal admit that there
will be growth in manufacturing and production of electricity as well as
increased service sector employment once we begin a serious move to
alternative energy. The move will have the added benefits of improved
energy efficiency, cleaner air and water and food, and lower costs to
many economic sectors.
The road to sustainability will not be easy and we will not reach our
goals overnight. There is tremendous money and power in the fossil fuel
and petrochemical industries. Corporations will continue to deny
impacts, delay action, divide the opposition by pitting jobs against the
environment, dump banned substances on developing countries and try to
dupe us all using well-crafted layers of "greenwash". As
pointed out in the recent report from Canada’s Commissioner on
Sustainability, our federal government is failing miserably to address
the issue of fossil fuel consumption. There are lots of promises and
paper plans but precious little action. This is in spite of public
opinion polls that show that Canadians do not want the reputation of
shirking our responsibility of dealing with climate change and
pollution. Many people assume that cars are becoming more efficient but
the data proves that in the absence of regulation, this is not
happening. Car fuel efficiency in Canada has remained unchanged for
years because consumers have moved to higher performance vehicles like
SUVs. To move this issue forward will take the concerted and determined
efforts of ordinary citizens motivated by a common vision of a
sustainable future.
We must change our consumer patterns by rejecting petroleum products
in favour of available alternatives, by recycling glass, paper and
aluminum to save energy and by reducing personal fuel consumption, but
we must also demand government support and direct action at the federal
policy level.
bundant
and cheap fossil fuels have provided the energy for rapid resource
depletion and industrialization in Canada and across the globe,
resulting in what many perceive 
