The Price of Oil

A small fraction of the fatality markers that dot the approximately 443 kilometers (275 miles) of pavement that connects Fort McMurray and the surrounding industrial areas to the rest of civilisation, Highway 63. When we think of the costs associated with the rapid development of the oilsands we often think of the market value of the product or perhaps the environmental impacts, but the nuances of the social and human impact is hard to fathom unless you have "been up there" yourself, much in the same way you have a vauge idea of what a war zone would be like but have no real idea unless you have experienced it first-hand. Walk into a room of oil sands workers and ask them to raise their hand if they know someone that has been injured or worse on this stretch highway and see how many go up...