The Lethbridge Public Interest Research Group (LPIRG) has partnered with a number of agencies to help recognize World Water Day by presenting the feature film H2Oil at the Lethbridge Public Library on Monday night.
This free screening, 7 p.m. in the Theatre Gallery, is co-sponsored by the University of Lethbridge's LPIRG, the Lethbridge College Eco-Collective, the Council of Canadians Lethbridge Chapter and the Lethbridge Public Library.
Directed by Shanoin Walsh, the 72-minute film asks the question, "Ever wonder where America gets most of its oil?" If you thought it was Saudi Arabia or Iraq you are wrong. America's biggest oil supplier has quickly become Canada's oil sands. Located under Alberta's pristine boreal forests, the process of oil sands extraction uses up to 4 barrels of fresh water to produce only one barrel of crude oil.
It goes without saying that water — its depletion, exploitation, privatization and contamination — has become a hot button issue facing humanity. At the same time, the war for oil is well underway across the globe, and a struggle is increasingly being fought between water and oil — not only over them.
H2Oil follows a voyage of discovery, heartbreak and politicization in the stories of those attempting to defend water in Alberta against tar sands expansion. Unlikely alliances are built and lives are changed as they come up against the largest industrial project in human history.
