XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: edm.general   
   From: "@nyet.ca   
      
   I wish the man would just tell it like it is.   This equivocating is   
   hard to comprehend . . . .  (=_=)   
   ____________________________________________   
      
   Canadian Press | May 31, 2014   
      
   Desmond Tutu calls oilsands ‘filth’ created by greed in Fort McMurray   
   speech   
      
      
   FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu has called   
   Alberta’s oilsands “filth” created by greed, and has urged all sides to   
   work together to protect the environment and aboriginal rights.   
      
   “The fact that this filth is being created now, when the link between   
   carbon emissions and global warming is so obvious, reflects negligence   
   and greed,” Tutu told more than 200 rapt attendees a conference on   
   oilsands development and treaty rights in Fort McMurray.   
      
   “The oilsands are emblematic of an era of high carbon and high-risk   
   fuels that must end if we are committed to a safer climate.”   
      
   “Oilsands development not only devastates our shared climate, it is also   
   stripping away the rights of First Nations and affected communities to   
   protect their children, land and water from being poisoned.”   
      
   The archbishop, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the fight   
   against apartheid, has taken strong stands on climate change and against   
   projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline. Tutu has signed a petition   
   against the project. In an opinion column earlier this year in the   
   British newspaper the Guardian, the 82-year-old called the Keystone   
   proposal to move oilsands bitumen from Alberta to the U.S. appalling.   
      
   He has also called for boycotts of events sponsored by the fossil fuel   
   industry, for health warnings on oil company ads and for divestment of   
   oil industry investments held by universities and municipalities,   
   similar to measures that were brought against South Africa’s old   
   apartheid regime.   
      
   Industry supporters have pointed out that the oilsands’ contribution to   
   the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide produced globally in minuscule.   
      
   But Tutu argued that humanity must act together to end a threat that is   
   already affecting people around the globe.   
      
   “This is why I have stood in solidarity with communities across Canada   
   and the United States that are opposing the proposed oilsands pipeline,”   
   he said. “The struggle of citizens against the pipelines puts them on   
   the front lines of the most important struggles in North America today.”   
      
   Despite his uncompromising rhetoric, Tutu urged people from all sides to   
   work together. He pointed to the experience of his own country   
   overcoming generations of racial intolerance as an example of how widely   
   differing positions can be brought together through mutual good will.   
      
   “Magnanimity is not a river that flows in one direction only. It is a   
   bridge built of reasonableness and the acceptance of others that enables   
   human beings to navigate barriers that keep us apart.”   
      
   In a room tangy with the slight smell of sweetgrass, Tutu said humanity   
   must learn to think of itself as one family.   
      
   “You can’t be human all by yourself. You need other human beings to be   
   human.”   
      
   Tutu’s remarks, leavened by his trademark infectious laugh, ended with   
   the crowd on its feet while he chanted, “we are connected.”   
      
   Tutu has been brought to the oilsands capital by the Athabasca Chipewyan   
   First Nation and a Toronto law firm specializing in aboriginal law.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)