People in the Path of Canada's Mega Tarsands Pipeline

[Oscar]

8 Striking Portraits of People in the Path of Canada’s Mega Tar Sands Pipeline

[ http://www.yesmagazine.org/climate-in-o ... 1959694910 ]

TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline would span thousands of miles, from rural Alberta to the Atlantic coast of New Brunswick.

Kristin Moe posted Apr 09, 2015

When photographer Robert van Waarden heard about Transcanada’s Energy East project—a tar sands pipeline that, if built, would be the longest such pipeline in the world and would exceed the capacity of Keystone XL by about 30 percent—he did what he knew how to do: he took pictures.

Along the Pipeline can be seen as an attempt to bring excluded voices back into the debate.

Over the course of several months, van Waarden drove all 2,800 miles of the proposed pipeline route across Canada, from Hardisty, Alberta, to the eastern terminus at St. John, New Brunswick. Using an old 4x5 film camera from the early ’70s—the kind where you put a cloth over your head—he made portraits of the people he met on the way, and recorded their words. The result was Along the Pipeline, a collective portrait of more than 70 indigenous people, farmers, fishermen, artists, and business owners. He wanted to know how they felt about the pipeline, the environment, and Canada’s economic future. He spent time in their homes, camped in their backyards, cooked with them in their kitchens. [ http://alongthepipeline.com/ ]