Alberta's Lasting Heart Of Albert Environmental And Social Issues

In the heart of Alberta's stunning landscapes, a complex web of problems that require attention and action is presented by two urgent issues: the rapidly rising population and the booming mining sector. Alberta is a beautiful country with huge amounts of grasslands and towering mountains. This blessing is marred by the over 2000 mining sites around Alberta, affecting the land and species around them. It’s the world’s most destructive oil operation and leaders are doing nothing to hinder or stop it, or even help it stop affecting the environment. There’s also a vast human issue with overpopulation: Alberta’s population has increased by nearly 10% in small communities since 2019. This means that the general cost of living is getting even more

Rich in natural resources, Alberta is home to enormous coal mines in the foothills of the Rockies, oil sands in the northeast, and quickly expanding urban centres like Calgary and Edmonton, all of which contribute to the province's distinct environmental and demographic landscape. Mining and overpopulation issues both take place in one of Canada’s breadbaskets, Alberta. The mining issue is one of Alberta’s major issues and deals with the ever growing mining operations in Alberta’s mines and oil sands. “If Alberta, with its population of four million people, were a country, it would be the fifth largest oil-producing nation. While it produces conventional oil, most comes from the Alberta oil sands, the world’s third largest proven oil reserve at 170 billion barrels.” (Leahy). While Canada pushes its agenda to stop

One of the most glaring factors is environmental, as the mining issue is very evidently causing distress to the environment as well as indigenous communities and environmental groups. “Scattered along the banks of the Athabasca River is one of the world’s largest collections of tailings waste ponds—able to fill more than 500,000 Olympic swimming pools. These are so toxic, ducks and other birds have to be prevented from going near them.” (Leahy). As well as the toxic leaks, air pollution is also a huge problem. Acid rain plagues the regions around the oil sands. More areas in Alberta are also being cut down and razed to build more housing for the influx of people coming in. Alberta’s environment is suffering greatly from two issues that humans cause. Economically, both of these issues need an immense amount of money to solve. As said before, it’s nearly $300 billion dollars to clean up the oil sands and destroying them would ruin one of Canada’s greatest money makers – it also wouldn’t do any favours for the environment. Due to the rush of people in Alberta, the government is transitioning the provincial funding to a new model called the Local Government Fiscal Framework, which will result in decreased funding to municipalities. “He said base funding for the initial Local Government Fiscal Framework will be $722 million and will increase by 14 per cent in 2025, to $820 million.”