Tar Sands Exploration Station @tarsands - Tumblr Blog

[TWEET: 22 municipalities, over 86 First Nations, 91% of those at #KinderMorgan public meetings stood against the pipeline.]

#kindermorgan #pipeline #indigenous land

Marchers say they want to send a message to the government.

#british columbia #burnaby #environment #indigenous rights #kinder morgan pipeline #pipelines #protest #canada

The federal government is unveiling its new approach to environmental assessments today, shaking up how natural resource projects are assessed for their environmental impacts.

#national energy board #canada #changes #environmental assesment #politics #Canadian content

americanartmuseum

“Skin has become inadequate in interfacing with reality. Technology has become the body’s new membrane of existence.” - Name June Paik, born this day in 1932.

Affectionately known as the “Father of Video Arts,” Nam June Paik boldly used TV as a creative, artistic medium.

As the television continued to evolve, Paik explored alternate ways the televisions could be used both inside and outside of the institutional frameworks of galleries, museums, and emerging experimental TV labs. Read more about Paik and his use of video art in this article by the Smithsonian Magazine.

Happy Birthday Nam June Paik!

Nam June Paik, Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, 1995. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist.

tarsands

I wonder what it would look like if we mapped all the oil pipelines in the US on top of this beautiful piece…

#mapping #maps #america #pipeline #Pipelines #nam june paik

tarsands

The Northern Gateway Pipeline as Afterschool Special

With the recent approval of the Northern Gateway Pipeline the Canadian government opened the theoretical floodgates for bitumen to travel from the oil sands of Northern Alberta, through the Rocky mountains of British Columbia and then out to the coast were it will be transported by ship through a tight network of channels out to the ocean and onto Eastern markets. While some are disappointed and angry about the Canadian government’s decision, many others considered the approval to be a forgone conclusion months ago. Indigenous groups, the province of BC and a number of environmental organizations are now exploring their legal options for putting a halt to project before it even begins. These forthcoming challenges are further complexified by the 209 guidelines handed down to Enbridge (the company who are the masterminds behind the proposed line) earlier this year and which must also be met before construction can begin. While the left and the right seem to be unable to reach a consensus on the need, value and risks of the proposed project they all seem unanimous in their agreement that it will likely be years before the project can proceed, if it ever even happens at all.

Despite all the interesting debate about the project we at the TSES have found ourselves surprisingly sidelined by the linguistic landscape created by and around the Northern Gateway Pipeline. The implications of the word Northern seems clear- it is meant to illicit feelings of Canadian nationalism but is also a nod to the remoteness of the line, passively relying upon the fact that most Canadians live in the southern part of the country which will be largely unaffected by the pipeline, to garner support for the project. The word gateway however is an entirely different matter. A gateway if of course an entrance or passage. It is a point from which something is released, a point from which something could be contained. Like our van, the TSES and most of its creators were born during the 1980s during an era when children were subjected to a popular television format known as the afterschool special. Afterschool specials typically addressed a serious issue that impacted youth and was magically resolved in 60 minutes. By far the most popular afterschool special theme was drug use. In most specials about drug use, marijuana is depicted as the gateway drug that leads a seemingly normal kid from a life of recreational sport and family dinners to an existence dominated by rage, apathy and usually a revelatory stealing of money from a younger sibling. Perhaps like an afterschool special, the pipeline is the weed, the gateway drug, that we Canadians are faced with today. Like the confused youth of the afterschool special we are simultaneously terrified and intrigued. We want to be cool, to impress our older friends (America and China perhaps?) but we also have pretty traditional values (and some important Traditional Knowledge) that simply doesn’t line up with our new interest. And if the Northern Gateway Pipeline is really just a path, a door being opened to other pipelines, then that leads us to wonder what kind of things this will all lead to…

tarsands

Thinking back to the beginning of conversations about the Northern Gateway Pipeline and how far discussions about oil and its role in Canada have come in the past few years!

#oil #pipeline #Northern Gateway #canada #Canadian content

democracynow

Native American Woman Olivia Lone Bear, Mother of 5, Missing in North Dakota Oil Fields

Olivia Lone Bear, Native American woman and mother of five, has gone missing in the oil fields of North Dakota. We spoke with her brother, Matthew Lone Bear, who is part of a daily search to look for his sister since she went missing on October 25th in New Town, North Dakota. He is calling for more support from local authorities:

“She was outgoing, and yeah, she liked to hang out at the casinos and bars, and she also really cared for her children. …

We do still need water support. We do need people on the ground, definitely, because the Fort Berthold reservation is… just about a million acres. So that’s a lot of ground to cover. The more people we can get in before the snow falls and before the lake freezes—we want to get as much done as possible before then.”

Read or watch the story.

This week, artists Christi Belcourt and Isaac Murdoch participated in the Tiny House Warriors project, which puts art-covered homes in path of a pipeline.

#tiny house warriors #art #Pipelines #canada

savedbythe-bellhooks

Source: Writing Beyond Race: Living Theory and Practice by bell hooks

Image description: A still image from the 90’s TV sitcom Saved By The Bell. Zack is in the locker room holding a microphone to his mouth. He is carrying recording equipment, and he is addressing a girl with a hand on her hip, a look of disbelief on her face (interpretation of scene my own). The caption reads, “White people benefit from the privileges accrued from racist exploitation, past and present, and are therefore accountable for changing and transforming white supremacy and racism.”

supplyside

The Suncor Energy Inc. plant is in the Athabasca Oil Sands area near Fort McMurray. Brett Gundlock

dequalized

tarsands

Processing and an offshore oil rig off the coast of Norway.

#offshore #rig pig #norway

yesstrongwomen

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day!

Across the United States, there are 556 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native nations. Each one has it’s own unique history and culture. American education has not bothered to tell us that Native people lived in peace and effectively governed themselves before the Europeans came along. American education has not informed us that Native Americans have been slighted ever since, not even being recognized as citizens (despite the fact that they were here first) until the 20th century.

But we don’t have to push these facts aside. We can stop celebrating a man that began a genocide and a terrible theft of land and culture, and start celebrating Indigenous Peoples for their rich history and their equal contributions to society.

To all Indigenous Peoples out there: we’re glad you’re here!

We will stand with you in your continued battle to be recognized as legitimate human beings instead of the stereotypes perpetuated by Columbus and those that came after him.