Photo Essay on Canada's Filthy Tar Sands – This Is Why Keystone XL Must Be Stopped

onAug 23, 2011 @ 06:45 PDT

Robert van Waarden, an excellent photographer and friend of DeSmogBlog, has compiled this great visual essay on Canada’s filthy tar sands to show people just a few of the reasons why the disastrous Keystone XL pipeline must be rejected by the Obama administration.

Robert’s photos are accompanied by quotes from First Nations’ people whom he interviewed on a recent trip to the Alberta tar sands. First Nations communities living near the industrial tar sands development suffer the worst of the impacts, a fact often overlooked by the mainstream media.

View the tar sands photo essay below:

Thanks again to Robert for putting this photo essay together for DeSmogBlog. Based in Amsterdam, Robert van Waarden is a climate change photographer and travel photographer whose work has been published in National Geographic Traveler, Canadian Geographic and elsewhere internationally.

Also check out Robert’s previous visual essay on the impacts of tar sands development on indigenous culture in Canada.

By Brendan DeMelle

Brendan is Executive Director of DeSmog. He is also a writer focused on disinformation and corporate accountability.

us/Exxon’s Robert Levy Is Joining the DOJ Division That Dubs Itself 'the Nation’s Largest Environmental Law Firm'

ByRachel Santarsiero

onJul 10, 2026 @ 08:30 PDT

The longtime Big Oil attorney has major ties to conservative legal groups.

Series: Inside MAGA’s Global Climate Agenda

Series: MAGA

uk/Farage and Truss Jamboree Backed by Crypto Lobbyists

ByAdam Barnett and Sam Bright

onJul 10, 2026 @ 02:38 PDT

CPAC GB partners with Bitcoin network as Reform leader comes under fire for industry connections.

Series: Defending Democracy from Dirty Money

Series: Defending-UK-Democracy

Pennsylvania’s Petrochemical ‘Renaissance’ Hasn’t Panned Out

BySarah Hofmann

onJul 9, 2026 @ 11:22 PDT

More than a decade after Shell announced its Beaver County complex, new reports show the oil giant’s promised economic revival failed, while pollution concerns now shape debates over proposed data centers.

Northern Ireland Turned Into 'Sacrifice Zone’ to Feed UK’s Appetite for Meat, New Report Finds

ByShauna Corr

onJul 8, 2026 @ 22:00 PDT

Nearly two thirds of country’s pig and poultry farms leach polluting manure into lough that supplies half the region's drinking water, according to latest research.

Series: Pigs, Poultry, and Pollution: Investigating Intensive Agriculture

Series: Investigating Intensive Livestock Pollution