The book Ethical Oil turns environmental lobby groups on their heads by digging into the specifics such groups might not want to talk about. By examining who invests in oilsands, what the alternatives to oilsands oil are, and why environmental groups are compelled to lie about oilsands, writer Ezra Levant blasts the oilsands detractors' case like a seismic testing site.
The premise of the book asks, what is ethical oil? If environmentalists claim Alberta's oil is unethical, like they do, where should buyers turn to buy their oil? Ethical Oil is not a free ride for oilsands producers, but rather a thoughtful comparison of oilsands versus other sources, and a debunking of myths of the multi-million dollar environmentalism industry.
Levant starts Ethical Oil with a surprise – a list of admissions about oilsands, ranging from alleged fish deformities, to claims of a high rate of rare cancers, to images of environmental catastrophe. However, with the turn of the page, the author announces that every fact he raised was false.
The introduction is a reminder of the power of propaganda. The reader is lead to sympathize with the claims Levant presents convincingly in the first two pages, only to have each and every claim dashed against the rocks of reality. Some of these claims the reader is familiar with through media coverage, and it all seems easy to buy into, until he gets to the bottom of each claim throughout the book. It is a great introduction, and a telling reminder of the importance of critical and independent thinking to thwart would-be environmentalists out to sabotage the oilsands.
International groups like Greenpeace or the U.S. based ForestEthics tell people that oilsands oil is the worst product on the market and urge countries and companies to boycott. Their campaigns received some success, including when two major retailers in the U.S announced they wouldn't use oilsands anymore in 2010.
Levant shows the how other oil producing countries, from Saudi Arabia to Iran to Venezuela and others, have far worse human rights records. In fact, for most other oil producing and OPEC countries, there is no such thing as human rights. People are regularly murdered by regimes – enough that Levant can make a realistic ratio of blood to oil in one country – a necessary comparison that cuts through the junk ethics of corporations like Greenpeace.
Take Sudan, where 300,000 were killed in Dafur region between 2006 and 2008. The country exports 350,000 barrels of oil a day. Dividing the total oil exported during the Dafur campaign with the number of killed people is 850 barrels per human body. Based on the average amount of blood in a body, Levant works it out to just more than a teaspoon of blood per barrel.
Now, if oilsands are boycotted, demand for Sudan's “blood oil” and other countries with a distain for human rights will increase. Is this more ethical than Canada?
In a chapter dedicated to Greenpeace, the group that scaled industry structures with stupid banners in Fort McMurray and Calgary this year, Levant blows the lid off the supposed do-gooder group. It is a corporate entity, from its structure to its day-to-day activities. And it is not merely nagging our staple industry in northeast Alberta, it is outright lying and deceiving its membership. While calling oilsands unethical, Greenpeace China touts the party line and never raises a word of criticism against a country with a much worse environmental and human rights record compared to Canada. Levant's chapter on the motivations of Greenpeace and the Pembina Institute is a must read.
Another case of questionable ethics is “ethical funds,” the investment portfolios sold to yuppie Greens. Many “ethical funds” make a big stink about the oilsands. And yet nearly all of them have money invested in the oilsands, which Levant shows in Ethical Oil. Outrageous.
So why pick on Canadian oilsands and Canadian companies working abroad with superior human rights records rather than countries that regularly violate human rights and the environment? Instead of taking on the main culprits of human rights abuses or environmental destruction, environmental groups choose companies that are vulnerable to public opinion in western countries. It has nothing to do with ethics.
The world needs more critical thinkers like Levant and less blind followers like the dupes of Greenpeace. Ethical Oil is a must read for 2011.
