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

Brendan DeMelle DeSmog
By Brendan DeMelle
onAug 23, 2011 @ 06:45 PDT

Robert van Waarden, an excellent photographer and friend of DeSmogBlog, has compiled this great visual essay on Canadaโ€™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.ย 

Robertโ€™s photos are accompanied by quotes from First Nationsโ€™ people whom he interviewed on a recent trip to the Alberta tar sands. First Nations communities living near the industrialย tar sands development suffer the worst of the impacts, a fact often overlooked by the mainstreamย media.ย 

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 Robertโ€™s previous visual essay on the impacts of tar sands development on indigenous culture in Canada.

By Brendan DeMelle
Brendan DeMelle DeSmog
Brendan is Executive Director of DeSmog. He is also a freelance writer and researcher specializing in media, politics, climate change and energy. His work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Huffington Post, Grist, The Washington Times and other outlets.

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