Episode Details

In this episode, you hear discussion centered around the critical issue of water security in Southern Alberta, focusing on the degradation of headwaters due to industrial activities such as logging, coal mining, and oil and gas extraction. Colin, Jenny, and Alex highlight the importance of restoring ecosystems to ensure long-term water availability and ecological health. They emphasize the need for public engagement, policy changes, and the creation of action-oriented groups to address these challenges. The conversation also touches on the broader implications of water management, including the impact on agriculture, industry, and biodiversity. You hear advocacy for a shift from doom and gloom narratives to inspiring and mobilizing communities to take tangible actions towards ecological restoration and sustainability.

Preamble on Fossil Fuel Industry Greenwashing

Alex:

Hey Colin, I was watching a video about carbon mapper. I found it quite interesting to learn about the longstanding propaganda that the energy sector has been infiltrating our society with. Providing biased information and privately funded studies that are in-house. I knew that it was going on, but the approach was not only entertaining but informative. Jenny had sent me a link earlier and I subscribed to the channel. I like the cut of the guy’s gist. He’s like a young Ron Burgundy, but on the environmental front, and you make some salient points when it comes to how these industries just twist the narrative state, the realities, but they’re professional at it.

Colin:

They have billions of dollars riding on it.

Alex:

I don’t know if you ever watched the movie called No Smoking, it was about a tobacco lobbyist who said, “There’s nothing to see here.” He would go around, be very friendly, hand out free cigarettes to people, and say, “This is good for you,” “Most doctors prefer Virginia Slims,” and things like that. The correlation between what the lobbying that the tobacco industry and the sugar industry have done throughout history, and still does, and the oil and gas industry as a whole continues to do. It is almost as if they never changed their objectives. They just change venues. They think, “Oh, this has a stigma attached.” “Look over here. This is great. This is green.” This is a new term. This is something you can accept. It’s friendlier and dah, dah, dah. Nevertheless, they’re still practicing things the same way in terms of methane emissions, for instance, I found that funny [that] the EPA just says, “Oh, we’ll just ask the companies how much methane they’re losing.” They never did their own investigations. [And the companies say], “Oh, we’re not losing any.” “Okay. All right, good.”

Jenny:

What he’s referring to Colin, just so you know, the new Climate Town video, is called Natural Gas Is Scamming America, and it is excellent. Funny, quick, have you watched it? Do you know what we’re talking about? No. Okay. It’s a clear, really succinct walk through the whole history in terms of the shale gas boom or let’s say the horizontal fracking boom. We’ll have to have a conversation about it. I just think it is a great summary that is easy for anybody to understand. Really good. Thanks for watching that, Alex, that’s awesome.

Alex:

I watched another one that they produced too, and it goes into cleanup denial in children’s books that are in elementary schools. It’s a sad state, right? In the United States, for instance, schools are funded by their districts. Poor districts can’t afford to fund schools adequately. These oil companies will come in and they’ll say, “Hey, we’ll give your school $7 or $8 million