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TravellingAlberta.com offers one-of-a-kind oil sands vacation packages
TravellingAlberta.com is a tongue-in-cheek travel site that uses humour to communicate a very serious issue to Canadian and international audiences about the destructive nature of the world's largest industrial development. The website showcases some of the unique attractions that await travelers to Alberta: Black sand beaches, toxic lakes and clearcut forests. Until now, this kind of vacation destination was merely the stuff of science fiction; but now, it can be experienced first-hand.
"We thought we'd help the province and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers with their "rebranding" campaign by bringing Alberta's newest tourist attractions to the world's doorstep. Any visitor to the Alberta tar sands can see the pollution, smell the sulfur, taste the toxins and hear the air cannons — we're saving them the trip," says Mike Hudema, a tar sands campaigner with Greenpeace.
"Premier Ed Stelmach and theCanadian Association of Petroleum Producers can spend 25 million dollars of tax payers' money trying to cleanup the image of the tar sands, but this development is still dirty, ugly and foul. That money would be much better spent cleaning up the tar sands themselves, rather than just the global image."
But while a real cleanup of the area is still a way off, the current state of northern Alberta offers a rare treat for the seasoned globetrotter who is craving something new. A seemingly endless expanse of bitumen-laden sands — coupled with the powerful scent of oil from refineries wafting through the hazy air — makes Northern Alberta a truly one-of-a-kind destination. As families make their vacation plans, TravellingAlberta.com offers these adventure tips:
- Diversion surfing: Catch a wave, Alberta-style, and join Big Oil in taking advantage of the nearly 92 billion gallons of water diverted from provincial rivers each year!
- Animal sightings: Moose playing in tailings ponds, loons drenched in tar and ducks sinking in oil: it's not everywhere that you can see some of Canada's most prized wildlife in these unique settings. Hurry though! They're going fast!
- Tailings sailing: Come enjoy the vast lakes of toxic water, so big they're visible to the naked eye from space! Chase that horizon, but be careful not to capsize!
- Fun in the sun: Forget Cancun, Alberta is sizzling! Boasting more greenhouse gas emissions than Canada's three other most populous provinces combined, it's really heating up out here!
Greenpeace will promote the website internationally, calling on visitors to share the site with friends and to write Premier Ed Stelmach, Travel Minister Cindy Ady and Prime Minister Stephen Harper to demand they put the brakes on tar sand development.