Once this landscape was a pristine wilderness roamed by deer now it’s ‘the most destructive industrial project on earth’
by Mark Duell
- Lush green forests once blanketed an area of the Tar Sands at Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, larger than England.
- Area where blackened earth now stands dubbed by environmentalists as most destructive industrial project on earth.
- Boreal forest - once home to grizzly bears, moose and bison - is vanishing at rate second to Amazon deforestation.
These incredible pictures show the bleak landscape of bitumen, sand and clay created by the frantic pursuit of 173billion barrels of untouched oil. The Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada, are the world’s third largest oil reserve - but lush green forests once blanketed an area there larger than England. The region where the blackened earth now stands has been dubbed as the most destructive industrial project on earth by shocked environmentalists.
Millions of barrels of tar sands oil have been extracted from underground - producing five times as many greenhouse gas emissions as normal extraction. And the Boreal forest - once home to grizzly bears, moose, bison, deer and wolverines - is vanishing at a rate only second to Amazon deforestation. Photographer Ashley Cooper said: ‘I knew a lot about the tar sands before I went there but nothing prepared me for the impact of actually seeing it…
(read more: Daily Mail UK) (photos: Ashley Cooper - Barcroft Media)
