<pre><a href="http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/People-Planets-Beaver-Lake-Tar-Sands-Youth-Solidarity-Exchange/209567545750060">http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/People-Planets-Beaver-Lake-Tar-Sands-Youth-Solidarity-Exchange/209567545750060</a></pre> <pre>In about a week I will be going out to the tar sands in Alberta, Canada.<br />The Alberta tar sands is the dirtiest oil operation in the world. Please <br />take a moment to take a look at the before-and-after photographs <br />and/or the video and I'm sure you will be concerned at the state of the <br />world's lack of efforts to shut down the tar sands operation in Alberta, <br />Northern Canada. The Alberta tar sands hold total reserves of 1350 <br />billion barrels of oil: more oil than has been used in total by humans <br />to-date and more oil than remaining 'conventional' sources are <br />estimated to hold. In addition to the unprecedented havoc that tar <br />sands exploitation wreaks upon the natural environment and its <br />human inhabitants, it also adds to the risk of catastrophic climate <br />change. By digging up and processing Alberta's tar sands, Canada<br />is creating a new greenhouse-gas crisis point. Tar sands hits the <br />climate with a triple-whammy: unlocking carbon stored underground, <br />burning fossil-fuels for processing and cutting down carbon-storing <br />forest. Boreal forest is one of the largest carbon stores on the earth <br />and Canada is home to half of all the world's boreal forest, giving rise <br />to its apt description as the "life support system for our planet." <br />Millions of local and indigenous people rely on the fast-disappearing <br />reservoir of fresh water and the forest is also home to large <br />populations of caribou (reindeer), moose, bears, wolves and some <br />five million migratory birds. Not only that but the indigenous people <br />are showing high levels of rare cancers, possibly due to the proximity<br />of the tar sands. Tars sands exploitation is degrading this <br />global asset by polluting it, carving it up, and removing large portions <br />of it, so please dig deep and donate whatever you can afford.<br /></pre>