The “ethical oil” brand, dreamt up by Canadian fossil fuel apologists, promotes the concept that bitumen extracted from the tar sands is superior
to all foreign oil. Although pitched as a matter of informed consumer choice,
it really serves as an obstacle to efforts aimed at energy conservation and the
transition to a sustainable, renewable energy paradigm.
The brand evokes the campaign to reduce the purchase of “conflict”or “blood” diamonds whose extraction or distribution supports violent warlords
or repressive governments. The response was a system whereby diamonds are
certified as “conflict-free”, coming from an upstream supply chain that doesn’t
rest on or support massive human rights abuses.
There are movements in many other commodity markets for
ethical or sustainable supply, whether organic or fair trade foods like coffee,
chocolate, and bananas, or certified forest-friendly paper products, or
sustainable fisheries. The key to each such initiative is that for suppliers to
certify as ethical, sustainable, organic, or fair, they must continually act to
improve their operations and reduce ancillary harms, and have those actions
independently audited.
However, there is no such drive behind “ethical oil”. Tar
sands companies have made no binding commitments to clean up their act and
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, toxic waste or spills. Instead, their only
claim to being “ethical” is to point to other oil-exporting nations, branding
their product as “conflict oil” and saying “well, they’re worse than us!” They
make much of the sexist, violent, terrorist-sponsoring governments of Saudi
Arabia and Iran, or the socialist Chinese or Venezuelan regimes, and contrast
them with how enlightened and ethical (and free-market) Canadians feel, in
contrast. Besides the blatant xenophobia of such an approach, what should
offend Canadians is how the tar sands are basically riding on our coat-tails in
boasting of being “ethical” based not on their own record, but the virtue of
the rest of Canada. But how does this industry fit within our own ethical
system?
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| Filthy lucre |
In all ways that matter, the bitumen industry is a drag on
the rest of Canada’s ethical values. This industry has opposed environmental regulations and pushed to remove protections from the lakes, rivers, or species
their operations threaten. Rather than create sustainable communities of
workers, they separate men from their families and communities, mostly in the Maritimes,
for weeks at a time, and pour money into their wallets. This is a recipe for
domestic violence, prostitution, substance abuse, a widening rich-poor gap, and
all kinds of other social ills. It is no coincidence that Edmonton, Calgary,
and Saskatoon, the 3 major cities serving the oil patch, are among the 5 worst
Canadian cities for women to live, according to a recent report. While
demonizing a few million dollars from foreign environmental charities, “ethical oil” ignores the billions of foreign dollars whose investment in our tar sands
leaves our governments captured by foreign interests.
If these are the ethics our oil offers, then this industry is
a corrupting influence on Canada as a whole, and rather than pretend that
propping it up is somehow the ethical choice, we should put aside such silly
distractions and concentrate on reducing our dependence on fossil fuels
entirely, regardless of the source. Because when it comes to destroying our
planet, damage is damage, regardless of how hard a destructive industry tries
to pass itself off as “ethical”.
Published as my Root Issues column in the Barrie Examiner as " ' Ethical oil' brand doesn't exist"
Erich Jacoby-Hawkins is a director of Living Green and the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation.
