Extreme heat making global food insecurity worse as costs continue to soar: report

Extreme heat was a factor in tens of millions of people reporting moderate to severe food insecurity in 2020, adding to the strain of skyrocketing food prices and multiple global crises, a new report has found.


An oil pumpjack operates under a partial moon in the Permian Basin in Stanton, Texas, Monday, Oct. 11, 2021. Massive amounts of methane are venting into the atmosphere from oil and gas operations across the Permian Basin, new aerial surveys show. The emission endanger U.S. targets for curbing climate change. 

(AP Photo/David Goldman)

The publication, The 2022 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: health at the mercy of fossil fuels, was published Tuesday. It explored the impact the world's continued reliance on fossil fuels is having on global health — and painted a dire picture of the direction the world is headed in.

"Climate change is increasingly undermining global food security, exacerbating the effects of the COVID-19, geopolitical, energy, and cost-of-living crises," the report found.

Read more:

Climate change is ‘biggest health threat facing humanity,’ WHO say

Relative to what was reported annually between 1981 and 2010, extreme heat was associated with 98 million more people reporting moderate to severe food insecurity in 2020 in the 103 countries analyzed, according to the report.

That's because increasingly extreme weather, a reality driven in large part by the world's changing climate, "worsens the stability of global food systems," the authors explained.

Extreme heat compounds on a number of other issues that have impacted food security in recent years.

The report found that in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, 161 million more people faced hunger than in 2019. In 2022, the situation is believed to have "worsened," with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and affordability issues weighing on people worldwide.

"Impacts on international agricultural production and supply chains (are) threatening to result in 13 million additional people facing undernutrition in 2022," the report warned.

Part of the problem is the impact that high temperatures have on crop growth. Extreme heat can lead to "fast crop maturation," which the report said "reduces the maximum potential yield that could be achieved with no limitations of water or nutrients."

Compared with the average during 1981–2010, the report found that average crop growth season lengths in 2021 have shortened for a number of key staples: the crop growth season for maize is down more than nine days, rice's growth season is down almost two days, and winter and spring wheat has shaved six days off its growth season.

The release of the report comes as the House of Commons agriculture committee is set to meet Wednesday afternoon to discuss the issue of global food insecurity, where members of Parliament will hear from a number of Canadian agriculture industry stakeholders.

Canadians have felt the impact of soaring food costs first-hand, as grocery prices in September rose at the fastest pace since 1981. Prices were up 11.4 per cent compared with a year ago -- compared with an overall inflation rate of 6.9 per cent.

The skyrocketing prices prompted Canada’s competition watchdog to launch a study of the grocery industry to examine whether the highly concentrated sector is contributing to rising food costs.

While climate change is impacting how much people are the world can eat, changing how we eat can actually help to mitigate climate change.

The report found that an "accelerated transition" to "balanced and more plant-based diets" would help reduce 55 per cent of the emissions that come from red meat and milk production, but also prevent "up to 11.5 million diet-related deaths annually" as well as "substantially" reduce the risk of zoonotic diseases.

The new report found heat exposure is taking more lives around the world today than it did two decades ago.

Heat-related deaths increased by 68 per cent between 2000-2004 and 2017-2021, the publication warned.

The finding comes as headline-grabbing heatwaves brought scorching temperatures to city streets around the globe in the last two years.

Read more:

‘Code red for humanity’: Climate change spiraling out of control, U.N. report says

In July, parts of the European Union were hit with a record-breaking heatwave, sparking wildfires in Spain, France and Portugal. Excess mortality in July amounted to roughly 53,000 deaths when compared with the monthly averages for 2016-2019, EU’s statistics office Eurostat said.

In B.C. in the summer of 2021, a boiling heatwave saw at least 719 people die over a one-week stretch — three times more than what would normally have been expected over the same period, according to the province's coroner's office.

Taking a health-centred approach to tackling climate change would help to mitigate the most "catastrophic" impacts of global warming, the report argued.

It recommended that governments around the world reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, pointing out that the carbon intensity of the global energy system has decreased "by less than 1 per cent" since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was established in 1994.

"Simultaneously, the total energy demand has risen by 59 per cent, increasing energy-related emissions to a historical high in 2021," the report said.

"Current policies put the world on track to a catastrophic 2.7°C increase by the end of the century."

— With files from the Canadian Press, Reuters

Untapped potential: Yukon gov't crafting legislation on geothermal energy

Julien Gignac - CBC

As early as next fall, the Yukon could have laws in place that govern the extraction of geothermal energy for the first time.

Haines Junction, Yukon, is located near the Denali Fault, a hotspot for geothermal energy potential.

© Philippe Morin/CBC

While it's a nascent type of renewable energy in Canada, Energy Minister John Streicker told CBC News the Yukon is replete with the resource, which is mainly found in the southwestern and south-central regions.

"We're also working to move off of fossil fuels and to transition our energy economy," Streicker said.

Geothermal energy is derived from the naturally occurring heat from the earth's core. Essentially, super hot water can be harvested, with the steam used to drive turbines, generating electricity. Geothermal energy can also be used for district heating.

Harnessing geothermal energy falls in line with the Yukon government's plan to reduce territory-wide carbon emissions by 45 per cent by the end of the decade. Much of that work involves pivoting away from using fossil fuels.

There's at least one geothermal project in the works in the territory. A couple years ago, the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation entered into an agreement with an Alberta-based company to get at reservoirs beneath its land.

While there is legislation that guides mining and oil and gas development, however dated, there has never been the equivalent in the Yukon.

Streicker said with that, questions abound.

"You need to know how people can apply, you need to know what types of things we need to be concerned about with, say, how the drilling takes place and the type of footprint that it has, especially around aquifers," he said.

Tapping into geothermal reservoirs still requires drilling deep into the earth.


"It has a footprint, but it's much, much, much smaller than other resource development," Streicker said.

'There needs to be a lot of careful thinking'

Lewis Rifkind, mining analyst with the Yukon Conservation Society, wrote a letter to the Yukon government as part of its public engagement on creating the new legislation.

In it, he states there are numerous things the Yukon government needs to consider, including cumulative impacts, which can be "extremely negative" and on par with mining. As well, Rifkind states black shale can be dug up as part of the process and can contain radioactive uranium.

Rifkind states the government needs to ensure adequate financial security, should companies decide to bail on the venture and that fair royalties are paid to First Nations.

All in all, Rifkind told CBC News he's "cautiously optimistic" about the prospect of a full-fledged geothermal industry in the Yukon.

"Geothermal energy or heating is a good thing, don't get us wrong," he said. "However, it does involve disturbances to the land and it can involve disturbances under the land, and these have to be taken into account when developing this sort of energy.

"I think there's a lot of careful thinking that has to be done on this to make sure we don't repeat some of the mistakes we've made in the past, with quartz, placer and oil and gas legislation."

The Yukon may have reservoirs equal to top producers

Maurice Colpron, with the Yukon Geological Survey, told CBC News the territory could be well-positioned to become a major producer of geothermal energy. That has a lot to do with geography.

In the Yukon, data shows there are hotspots that run a consistent 580 C near the Denali Fault, a large fracture in the earth's crust that runs through Burwash Landing and Haines Junction. While that temperature is much too hot for the purposes of generating electricity, crews will compensate by not drilling farther than two kilometres — a sweet spot for temperatures that can generate electricity, though Colpron said the territory will likely prioritize district heating.

"That's really what we're trying to map in the Yukon," he said.

"The initial data that we have suggests that the kind of heat that we see in the crust in Yukon could be comparable to what we see in Nevada and Utah."

Colpron said those areas are producing upward of 30 per cent of geothermal energy globally.

"It's a big game."

China's latest dystopian creation: A machine gun-mounted robo-dog

Lynn Chaya - Thursday

China has unveiled its newest weapon of war: The “combat dog.” Private military contractors Kestrel Defense Blood-Wing posted a video via Weibo, the Chinese social media platform, showing a machine gun-mounted robot dog capable of being transported by a drone.

In the video shared on Oct. 3, a robotic dog can be seen being carried by a drone onto an empty rooftop with dramatic music playing in the background.

“War dogs descend from the sky!” the post reads. “The heavy-duty drones can deliver combat dogs, to be directly inserted behind enemy lines and spring surprise attacks on weak links. They can also be placed on the rooftops and work with troops on the ground to ambush enemies inside buildings.”

Earlier in August, Kestrel trialed another robotic dog capable of carrying a munitions launcher.

“Welcome to your next war tech,” tweeted defence technology expert Samuel Bendett.

In season four of Netflix’s critically acclaimed show “Black Mirror,” episode five, “Metalhead,” follows a young woman attempting to flee from robotic dogs after the unexplained collapse of human society. These fictional dogs are reminiscent of Kestrel’s creation, some have pointed out.

“It reminds me of the monster from the Metalhead episode of Black Mirror,” said one Twitter user.

China’s affinity for robo-dogs doesn’t end here. At Beijing’s Robot Expo this year, dancing robotic dogs welcomed attendees during the annual World Robot Conference.

“They’re going to be attacking next,” a Twitter user commented.

THE U$ DID IT FIRST

 

CONSTRUCTING THEIR OWN GUILLOTINES

Twitter staff have been told to work 84-hour weeks and managers slept at the office over the weekend as they scramble to meet Elon Musk's tight deadlines, reports say

gdean@insider.com (Grace Dean) - TODAY

Twitter managers have told some staff work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, CNBC reported.

Some managers told The New York Times they slept at Twitter's office on Friday and Saturday nights.

Staff are trying to prove themselves amid the looming threat of layoffs under new owner Elon Musk.



Staff at Twitter have been clocking up much longer hours than usual since Elon Musk took over, CNBC reported. This comes as staff face the looming threat of layoffs amid the tech mogul's planned overhaul of the company.

Twitter managers have told some staff to work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week — equivalent to 84 hours a week — to meet Musk's deadlines, CNBC reported, citing internal communications.

Musk's $44 billion purchase of the social-media platform went through on Thursday evening, but concerns about layoffs at the company have been swirling since well before that. It remains unclear how many staff will be laid off and when, as well as which teams will be most affected.

Since Friday, staff at the company have been set tasks which some see as a test by Musk's team to see who works hard.

Insider previously reported that Musk's team assigned some of Twitter's engineers coding projects to work on over the weekend, known as sprints. Other tasks include making major changes to Twitter's verification service.

Related video: Elon Musk Orders Managers To Prepare List For Job Cuts After Completing Twitter Deal | English News
Duration 2:36
View on Watch

Insider previously reported that an internal message was sent to Twitter staff working on changes to the company's verification process telling them that: "The expectation is literally to work 24/7 to get this out."

CNBC reported that staff haven't been told whether they'll get overtime pay, time off in lieu, or job security for working on the assignments.

Staff worry that their careers at Twitter could be over if they don't complete their tasks by the early November deadlines, CNBC reported.

Twitter's managers, meanwhile, have been asked to carry out performance reviews and send Musk's team lists of which employees should be kept on, people familiar with the discussions told Insider.

But the managers themselves are also feeling the strain, with some telling The New York Times that they slept at Twitter's office on Friday and Saturday nights.

Twitter's top managers were pulled into meetings with Musk and his team last week at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters, where they were asked to describe their division's work, two people involved in the meetings told The Times.

Some Twitter managers told the publication that they felt like they were being assessed.

The Washington Post reported that Musk's team plans to cut around a quarter of Twitter's staff in a first round of layoffs, citing a person familiar with discussions that took place at Twitter HQ last week.

Twitter didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on working hours, staff sleeping at the office, and layoffs.

Musk dissolved Twitter's board of directors, a Monday SEC filing shows, cementing his position as Twitter's sole director.

Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

Elizabeth Dwoskin, Faiz Siddiqui - Yesterday 

Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans© Amy Osborne for The Washington Post

SAN FRANCISCO — Members of billionaire Elon Musk’s inner circle huddled with Twitter’s remaining senior executives throughout the weekend, conducting detailed discussions regarding the site’s approach to content moderation and spam, as well as plans to lay off 25 percent of the workforce to start.

Alex Spiro, a well-known celebrity lawyer who has represented Musk for several years, led those conversations. Spiro is taking an active role in managing several teams at Twitter, including legal, government relations, policy and marketing, according to four people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe them, as well as tweets from some of the people involved.

Longtime Musk associates David Sacks and Jason Calacanis appeared in a company directory over the weekend, according to photos obtained by The Washington Post. Both had official company emails, and their titles were “staff software engineer.” Musk’s title in the directory was CEO, although that position had not been publicly announced. He refers to himself as “Chief Twit.”

A document filed with financial regulators Monday showed Twitter’s board had been dismissed, another step leaving the company in Musk’s sole control.

Later Monday, a financial filing officially revealed that Musk is CEO of the company.

Elon Musk's ownership of Twitter begins

Meanwhile, the team was deciding on what is expected to be a first round of layoffs, which will target roughly a quarter of the staff totaling more than 7,000, according to one of the people. Layoffs will touch almost all departments, and are expected to specifically impact sales, product, engineering, legal, and trust and safety in the coming days, the person said. After engineers, some of Twitter’s highest-paid employees work in sales, where several earn more than $300,000, according to documents viewed by The Post.

Twitter, Musk, Spiro, Sacks and Calacanis did not respond to requests for comment.

The billionaire Tesla owner bought Twitter for $44 billion last week after several strenuous months of negotiations and legal wrangling. Musk first made a bid for the company in the spring, then tried to back out months later. Twitter sued to force him to complete the deal, and eventually the entrepreneur acquiesced and offered to buy the company for his original offer price.

Musk has turned to several longtime allies as he begins his overhaul of Twitter. Members of Musk’s team were in New York City, where Twitter has a corporate office, taking meetings on Monday, according to social media posts.

Sacks, a conservative firebrand and donor, has worked with Musk from their days running PayPal together two decades ago. Sacks has posted strong ideas about content moderation online and has criticized censorship from Big Tech.

Calacanis is also a longtime Musk friend who texted him frequently to offer advice on the deal, including about job cuts, court records showed.Documents detail plans to gut Twitter’s workforce

Calacanis tweeted that Saturday was “Day Zero” alongside a photo of a Twitter coffee mug, adding that he had discussed safety issues, along with bots and trolls, with Yoel Roth, a Twitter executive responsible for content moderation policy. Roth then posted details about those policies.

On Sunday, Musk posted apparent internal messages from Roth about Twitter metrics, arguing they show Twitter’s board and lawyers “deliberately hid … evidence from the court.” The tweet showed Musk using his newly gained access to internal information to potentially settle scores.

The new leadership team is asking questions about every aspect of the business, including details of content moderation, spam and the risks of upcoming elections, the people said. They also discussed identity verification on the platform, including verifying high profile users with blue check marks, according to a Musk tweet and the people.

Another Musk associate who tweeted about his involvement, Sriram Krishnan, a partner focusing on cryptocurrency at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, also tweeted he was helping out with the deal. The firm invested $400 million. He describes himself as a former Twitter executive on his LinkedIn page.

On Monday, a financial filing revealed Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey — the company’s former CEO — rolled over his Twitter shares into the new company, making him one of Musk’s investors.

Less than three days into Musk’s ownership, Twitter employees remained in the dark about any new plans for the company as of Sunday evening, according to numerous employees contacted by The Post, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their jobs. The company has yet to release a formal announcement of the acquisition. The communications department has gone silent. Rumors have swirled about layoffs, with some notices going out quietly.Twitter layoffs are imminent

Layoffs are expected to begin ahead of Nov. 1, when Twitter employees are slated to receive additional compensation related to stock grants. On Sunday, Musk tweeted that reporting about impending layoffs at Twitter next week was “false.”

Earlier this year, Musk told prospective partners in the deal that he planned to cut nearly 75 percent of Twitter’s total workforce, which would leave the company with about 2,000 employees, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Post. Musk last week told employees when he visited Twitter’s headquarters that he didn’t plan to cut three-fourths of the workforce.

Another person familiar with the deal who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters last week said the total number of layoffs is likely to be closer to 50 percent.

Already, Musk has fired four senior executives, sent Tesla engineers to evaluate Twitter’s software code, and has tweeted that he plans to form a content moderation council of experts.

Meanwhile, illustrating the difficulties of his new task, Musk tweeted out content from a site that is known to publish misinformation this weekend.

On Saturday, Hillary Clinton, the former first lady and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, posted a tweet criticizing the GOP for spreading “hate and deranged conspiracy theories” that she said had emboldened the man who attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, inside the couple’s home in San Francisco early Friday.

Musk wrote, in a reply to the tweet, that “There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye,” sharing a link to an article in the Santa Monica Observer, a site described by fact-checkers as a low-credibility source favoring the extreme right. The article alleges, without evidence, that Paul Pelosi was drunk and in a fight with a male prostitute, referencing a conspiracy theory that had previously been spread on the right. Other right-wing influencers who Musk has interacted with online also amplified the conspiratorial narrative.

The actions by Musk, who has since removed the tweet, show that Twitter has a complicated path ahead, particularly in navigating Musk’s public actions and squaring that with what he says privately.

Rachel Lerman contributed to this report.

Fired Twitter Execs Face A Long, Ugly Battle With Elon Musk Warns Expert

Chris Davies - TODAY

Elon Musk hasn't just cleaned house at Twitter, but taken a scorched-earth approach. Less than a week has passed since his $44 billion deal to purchase the social network closed, and already Musk has ousted top execs -- including Twitter's former CEO, Parag Agrawal -- and installed himself as new chief executive. The big question is, with Twitter going private, has Musk also opened himself up to legal backlash?


Elon Musk© Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

According to a report from The New York Times, Musk has not only shown Twitter's former C-suite the door, but is claiming that the terminations were "for cause," too. If that's upheld, it could shield the Tesla CEO from millions in so-called golden parachute payments that Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, former general counsel Sean Edgett, and former top policy and legal exec Vijaya Gadde would otherwise be contractually due.

It's a big bill if Musk has to pay up: anywhere up to $60 million, according to reports. On the flip side, dragging out that liability through the courts could also be costly. SlashGear spoke to a legal expert to figure out just what Musk's game-plan might be.

There's No Law Against Firing Your Board


Elon Musk twitter profile© mundissima/Shutterstock

"This all boils down to a contract dispute," attorney Ron Zambrano, the employment litigation chair at Los Angeles-based West Coast Trial Lawyers, told SlashGear. "Are the fired executives entitled to their severances under their respective contracts because the contention by Musk that they were fired for cause is either made in bad faith or completely baseless? Or did these executives do things that could be viewed as violating their employment contracts? If they did, then Musk would have grounds to fire them for cause."

What isn't good reason to contest Musk's decision, however, is his new strategy for Twitter. While ousting the whole board and assuming total control himself might seem extreme -- not to mention give Tesla shareholders some legitimate concerns that the chief executive's attentions are divided, albeit with potential benefits there too -- it's actually not grounds for a lawsuit.

"Based on news reports, the motivation behind these terminations of employment is Musk's desire to replace the leadership at the highest executive levels with folks that he wants in those roles," Zambrano explains. "This motivation is lawful."

What Legal Experts Say Elon Musk Should Do Next


Judge with gavel© Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock

The question, then, is just what might make for a compelling case? As Zambrano tells it, the only real justifications for a lawsuit from the former Twitter execs would be if it could be proved Musk singled them out because of protected class -- including race, gender, or national origin -- or if they'd been targeted as whistleblowers or similar. "Barring those exceptions," the attorney says, "these folks have not suffered a violation of their employment rights and it all comes back to what's in their contracts."

It won't only be contracts that are being examined with a fine-toothed comb, however. Asked what he'd be recommending Elon Musk do next, Zambrano says the big thing is digging through whatever the former C-suite has left behind that could count against the execs. It's from that evidence that a "for cause" dismissal case could be built.

"Musk and his team should start scouring internal Twitter communications and activity to support a for cause finding for terminating the executives he has fired," Zambrano says he'd advise Musk, were the new Twitter owner his client. "If there are in fact admissions and evidence by these affected employees that should have led to their involuntary exit beforehand, that would totally bolster his defense to any claim that firing these executives for cause was done in bad faith."

Even An Expensive Lawsuit Is Small Change, Comparatively


Elon Musk smiling© Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images

While litigation is seldom inexpensive, it may not be the dissuading factor to drag the former Twitter execs through the courtroom that you might think. In fact, Zambrano says, Musk's costs for that -- even if considerable by normal lawsuit standards -- would still likely only amount to a fraction of what the golden parachute payouts would reach.

"In a worst-case scenario, Musk may be looking at a $1 million legal tab," Zambrano suggests. "Strategically, Musk will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to reduce what he has surely been told is the money these employees are probably owed in payouts. He can drag this out in the courts for so long the fired executives will eventually compromise just to get it over with and receive some money."

While the Twitter purchase may have been completed relatively quickly, with Musk rapidly stepping in -- complete with a sink in his arms -- to seize control at the social media company, a lawsuit with the former execs would be a far longer affair. In fact, Zambrano predicts, it could stretch from three to five years following appellate review. In the end, it may all come down to who has the most patience.

Read this next: Everything We Know About Elon Musk's Hyperloop Concept

ATHABASCA TAR SANDS / OIL SANDS 1967 BECHTEL CORP. PROMO FILM ALBERTA CANADA 10494

This is a color film, produced in 1967 by Bechtel corporation called, "The Fabulous Oil Sands". The film looks at the development of the Athabasca Tar Sands, one of largest petroleum deposits in the world, and its effect on the nearby community of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. The film features photography by William Heick, supplementary photography by Richard Finney and Kenneth R.L. Hill and a Script and Narration by Richard Finney. The movie opens with some heavy excavation units digging into the site of a quarry wall and then an aerial view of Edmonton, capital of Alberta 1:00. The city streets of Alberta 1:20. A map of Edmonton is shown in shows the distance to Fort McMurray. Peter Pond visited Fort McMurray in the 18th century as a fur trader. Aerial view of Fort McMurray 2:00. The railroad depot called Waterways is shown 2:33. Steamship pushes a barge, 2:40. 1940s seaplane at Fort McMurray 3:00. Outcroppings at Fort McMurray 3:35. Max W. Ball, built a plant in 1936, with Canadian capital opened Abasand Oils, Ltd in 1940. Trains taking military equipment to Waterways to expedite the building and launching of barges for the war effort 4:40. The Canoil project. 4:43. Equipment on barges 5:13. Scientist test sand for oil 5:52. Sun Oil and Great Canadian Oil Sands (GCOS) Limited. 6:30. Forest clearing on Tar Island, 7:00. Aerial view of plant 7:15. GCOS and Bechtel do oil experiments at the plant 7:35. Edmonton businessmen sit down 8:05. Bechtel designers 8:21. Disassembling scale model of the plant, 8:38. Building of the plant begins 9:50. Plant workers board a bus to boarding house 10:15. The mess hall and the crew eats 10:35. Curling lanes for the men, 11:34. Man commutes to work by dogsled 12:11. Supplies are trucked in over icy winter roads 12:50. The Alberta Athabasca Bridge opens 13:20. Oil tankers come down the road with crude and equipment 13:45. Fort McMurray expands 14:41. Construction at Tar Island 15:00. Aerial view of the new refinery 15:50. Superstructures are built 16:10. Buildings are insulated for the second winter of plant building 17:43. Men lay the first pipeline for the refinery 18:30. Men fill in dirt over the pipeline 19:30. Workers try to keep warm in the frigid cold 20:00. Truckers continue to bring equipment to the site 20:18. Two giant bucket wheel excavators are brought, in exported from Germany, to dig out tar sand 21:20. The ice flow under the Alberta Athabasca Bridge 22:00. Testing of bucket wheel excavators. TCO control room 22:40. Older houses versus new ones in Fort McMurray after plant development. Aircraft land on paved runways in Fort McMurray. Opening Day luncheon for the plant 25:00. J. Howard Pew gives a speech 25:12. GCOS president, Clarence Thayer is honored 27:23. Robert McClements, JR gives a speech of welcome 28:03. An electric shovel is shown digging the sand 28:40. Dump trucks dump the sand 29:00. Bucket wheel excavators mine the tar sand 29:25. Tar sands are moved by conveyor into primary extraction plant 30:00. Sand is fed into conditioning drums with steam and caustic 30:30. Bitumen separation 30:47. Bitumen pumping station 31:40. Diluted bitumen goes into the storage tanks 32:00. Gas and oil power tanks 32:45. Coke is burned to use steam to power the plant 33:00. Blending tanks that lead to pipeline 33:48. Ernest C Manning the premiere of Alberta makes a speech 34:31. Sidney Blair, petroleum engineer wrote first oil report in 1950.Sid Blair’s original report is shown 36:30. Aerial view of finished plant 37:00. The Athabasca oil sands, also known as the Athabasca tar sands, are large deposits of bitumen or extremely heavy crude oil, located in northeastern Alberta, Canada – roughly centered on the boomtown of Fort McMurray. These oil sands, hosted primarily in the McMurray Formation, consist of a mixture of crude bitumen (a semi-solid rock-like form of crude oil), silica sand, clay minerals, and water. The Athabasca deposit is the largest known reservoir of crude bitumen in the world and the largest of three major oil sands deposits in Alberta, along with the nearby Peace River and Cold Lake deposits (the latter stretching into Saskatchewan). This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com