James Cameron's latest project portrays destructive human tendencies in the name of securing natural resources.  Many environmentalists see Avatar as an allegory for the destruction that is happening in North American indigenous communities and Canada's Boreal forest as humans search for tar sands oil.

Global Community Monitor and over fifty US based and international leading environmental organizations recently placed an ad in Variety Magazine, drawing attention to the similarities of tar sands and Avatar.  In both the movie Avatar and the tar sands projects, humans are destroying pristine environments as well as local indigenous communities in their search for an unobtainable supply of limited natural resources.

Communities all over the world are being affected by tar sands: from the First Nations communities in Canada to refinery communities here in the U.S.  Mining and refining of tar sands produces additional heavy metals and toxic gases in already overburdened communities. Since the process of refining tar sands crude produces 3-5 times more greenhouse gases as normal crude oil, tar sands trail of destruction isn't just limited to Canada. Global Community Monitor is working with communities in Indiana, Michigan, California and South Dakota to prevent increased air pollution and human health hazards, such as asthma and cancer, resulting from the refining of this dirtier crude oil.

To read the oil industry's response to the ad, learn more about tar sands and see the full resolution ad, please visit:

DirtyOilSands.org

http://www.dirtyoilsands.org/news