The Athabasca Tar Sands: a crime against future generations?

SPECIAL STUDY TOPIC 

(in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Masters in Transnational Organized Crime, 'Crimes of the Powerful', 
January 2011 - Daniel G. Pugh, full version available upon request)

To what extent can the growth of the Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada be said to represent a crime against the future generations.

INTRODUCTION

As industry has expanded to meet the demands of the global economy so has the need for oil and gas. Issues arising from this growth include whether the excesses of exploiting natural resources today infringe on the rights of future generations as fossil fuel emissions are causing dramatic changes to life on earth and continued exploitation reduces energy futures. Rising in prominence in the oil and gas industry are the Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada receiving considerable geopolitical and economic attention for their enormous potential and increasingly affordable access. It is important to understand the externalities that have brought the demand for tar sands oil onto the world stage and then to consider how the myriad consequences resulting from the oil extraction process impact the environment and livelihoods and whether these constitute a crime against future generations.

The increase in global demand for oil and gas has relevant effect on the importance of tar sands reserves. Estimates on current global dependency on oil suggest 40% for energy use and 95% for transportation (EndOilAid, 2010). The Athabasca tar sands are thought to be the largest hydrocarbon deposits and second largest recoverable oil reserves in the world after the Saudi fields with a volume potential of 175 to 200 billion barrels of oil (McCullum, 2006:10).

The viability of the Athabasca tar sands is dependent on the cost of extraction which is estimated to be US$9 -14 per barrel of WTI1 (National Energy Board, 2006: 3) versus the price of oil. During the 1990s and 2000s and even as demand grew the price of a barrel of WTI remained relatively stable hovering under US$25 per barrel (WTRG Economics, 2009) and so related to the cost of extraction it was uncompetitive to buy tar sands oil compared to extraction costs of US$1 per barrel from Saudi fields. Amidst concerns over limits to supply caused by extreme weather events and instability in oil producing nations the price of oil started to show significant increases in the mid-2000s peaking at US$132 per barrel in May, 2008 (Ibid). As a result the economics of tar sand oil extraction started looking much more attractive, the National Energy Board indicates that US$35-35 will bring a 10% rate of return to producers (National Energy Board, 2006: 5). The current cost for a barrel of Texas Crude is US$91.54 (Bloomberg, 2010).

Another dominant externality explaining the recent rise of tar sands prominence is geopolitics. The shift in US energy policy and that of China to decrease their dependency on Middle Eastern oil sources has focused interest on the Athabasca tar sands. This is a shift for the USA who many believe invaded Iraq “which arguably had more to do with securing greater control over Middle East oil deposits than fighting the war on terror”(Clarke, 2008: 9). The Bush era policy to look closer to home for oil (McCullum, 2006: 5) continues under the Obama administration; in 2009 the USA State Department approved the development of the Alberta Clipper pipeline to carry crude oil from the Athabasca fields “increasing the diversity of available supplies among the United States’ worldwide crude oil sources in a time of considerable political tension in other major oil producing countries” (U.S.Dept. of State, 2009). PetroChina is 40% underwriter of the controversial Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline that will open a major tanker port at Kitimat, British Colombia bringing over 200 tankers per year through dangerous waters along a pristine wilderness coastline on a route normally plied by cruise liners. (McCullum, 2006: 15).

The tar sands became economically viable and geopolitically important when the world reached ‘peak oil’ probably the dominant externality in tar sands development.  Tony Clarke (2008) explains that, peak oil means the extraction of oil from conventional sources has peaked, from now on to meet future energy demands non-conventional means (like tar sands extraction) will increasingly need to be exploited (Clarke 2008:10). The future holds higher financial and environmental costs.

Costs and future threats can be viewed as harms, damaging the global environment, the ecology of northern Alberta and the health, livelihoods and social well being of locally-based communities as well as compromising the energy security of Canada.(Hatch, 2008),(Greenpeace Canada, 2008),(Greenpeace Canada, 2009). It seems clear with the litany of harms being meted out to the environment and local communities that we can assume Trans National Corporations involved in tar sands development are not interested in the needs of future generations. This follows the logic of Ramsay (1984) cited in Cartwright (2001) asking what could be assumed when there seems to be unfair advantage in the market place. Cartwright goes on to suggest that when this happens, further regulation is needed (2001: 5 -6) and indeed this is the case in northern Alberta.

Viewing the situation through the lens of opportunity perspective, criminality of tar sands activity is hard to ascertain when the weak regulatory regime allows for the installation and continuation of industrial processes that pollute the air and water jeopardizing the health of communities and the ecosystem ((Hatch, 2008: 19). For example the Fisheries Act and Canadian Environmental Protection Act could together prosecute companies for toxic seepage into waterways from tailing ponds. Currently the federal government leaves monitoring up to provincial regulators who in turn ‘require’ companies to self monitor seepage and pollution of waterways (Environmental Defence 2010b:10 -11),(Hatch, 2008: 22). This passing of responsibility betrays the sincerity of Canada’s policy makers and politicians who have a well-established record of close association with business for personal advancement and lobbying on behalf of corporations against the interests of the public (Stewart, 2010). The Polaris Institute provides evidence in a profile of Enbridge Inc3 that describes “widespread political lobbying and influence in Canada” and the revolving door method of recruitment from within politics and government and back to business demonstrating their modality of operations in Canada (Girard, 2010: 37 - 41).

Certainly the situation provides considerable opportunity for companies to act outside of ethical boundaries (in the absence of regulation) but it also provides for a normalization of deviance and questionable corporate practices. The idea that companies can act beyond reproach, is akin to (and likely part of) the culture of complacency that is emerging as a significant causal factor in the Deepwater Horizon incident (National Oil Spill Commission, 2011). After years of lobbying by environmental groups, the Commissioner for the Environment and Development admitted in December 2010 “there are unacceptable gaps in the federal monitoring of fresh water” (Vaughn, 2010: 2). Reacting to this report and one by the Royal Society of Canada (2010) (and possibly now worrying about future liability issues) the federal government has ordered the immediate implementation of appropriate monitoring mechanisms in Alberta (Simieritsch, 2011). 

CONCLUSION

The extent of criminality of this activity in the oil and gas industry is not perhaps the pertinent question for the present although it may be in the future. Economic interests presently drive and motivate the people involved in TNCs and government, raising ethical and moral questions about harms that show a disturbing disregard for future generations. It seems the popular way of thinking is that technology will solve everything and that our present activities will simply be managed in the future, a simplistic and naive perspective. Ironically it may be globalization that comes to the rescue. There has been much recent criticism in Canada for failing to ‘harmonize’ with other countries especially the USA where the Environmental Protection Agency is making clear moves to regulate green house gas emissions in industry (McCarthy, 2011). If the Canadian government can shift from an approach that does not account for future generations to one that does then perhaps there is hope for the future. In the Athabasca tar sands, what may be immoral today may be illegal tomorrow.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bloomberg, 2010. Energy & Oil Prices: Natural Gas, Electricity and Oil - Bloomberg. Available at: http://www.bloomberg.com/energy/ [Accessed January 15, 2011]. 

Cartwright, p, 2001. Consumer protection and the criminal ... - Google Books, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at: http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=I-jcxhRy1ewC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=cartwright+2001+consumer+protection&ots=EvN6Ct4R7x&sig=Uv-faFhmy5-0a-tPrqTBfpRg-Gs#v=onepage&q=cartwright%202001%20consumer%20protection&f=false [Accessed January 17, 2011].

Clarke, T., 2008. Tar Sands Showdown | Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Available at: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/tar-sands-showdown [Accessed January 15, 2011].

Environmental Defence, 2010. Duty Calls: Federal Responsibility in Canada’s Oil Sands | Environmental Defence, Toronto: Environmental Defence. Available at: http://environmentaldefence.ca/reports/duty-calls-federal-responsibility-canada%E2%80%99s-oil-sands-0 [Accessed January 12, 2011].

Girard, R., 2010. Corporate Profile of Enbridge Inc. | Polaris Institute, Ottawa: Polaris Institute. Available at: http://polarisinstitute.org/corporate_profile_of_enbridge_inc [Accessed January 17, 2011].

Greenpeace Canada, 2009. Threats: Energy security | Greenpeace Canada. Available at: http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/tarsands/Resources/Fact-sheets/Threats-Energy-security/ [Accessed January 21, 2011].

Greenpeace Canada, 2008. Threats: Social costs | Greenpeace Canada. Available at: http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/tarsands/Resources/Fact-sheets/Threats-Social-costs/ [Accessed January 21, 2011].

Hatch, C. & Price, M., 2008. Canada's Toxic Tar Sands: The Most Destructive Project on Earth | Environmental Defence, Toronto: Environmental Defence. Available at: http://environmentaldefence.ca/reports/canadas-toxic-tar-sands-most-destructive-project-earth [Accessed January 20, 2011].

McCarthy, S., 2011. U.S. to impose new emission rules on power plants, refineries - The Globe and Mail. Available at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/us-to-impose-new-emission-rules-on-power-plants-refineries/article1855631/ [Accessed January 17, 2011].

McCullum, H., 2006. Fuelling Fortress America :: Parkland Research :: Parkland Institute, Edmonton: Parkland Institute. Available at: http://parklandinstitute.ca/research/summary/fuelling_fortress_america/ [Accessed January 12, 2011].

National Energy Board, 2006. NEB - Energy Reports - Canada's Oil Sands - Opportunities and Challenges to 2015: An Update - Questions and Answers, Calgary: National Energy Board. Available at: http://www.neb.gc.ca/clf-nsi/rnrgynfmtn/nrgyrprt/lsnd/pprtntsndchllngs20152006/qapprtntsndchllngs20152006-eng.html [Accessed January 17, 2011].

National Oil Spill Commission, 2011. National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling |, Washington: National Oil Spill Commission. Available at: http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/ [Accessed January 17, 2011].

Price, M., 2008. The Tar Sands Leaking Legacy, Toronto: Environmental Defence. Available at: http://environmentaldefence.ca/reports/11-million-litres-day-tar-sands-leaking-legacy [Accessed December 12, 2011].

Simieritsch, T, 2011. Water monitoring 101: what to make of the 2010 flood of oil sands reports | Pembina Institute. Available at: http://www.pembina.org/blog/460 [Accessed January 17, 2011].

Stewart, K., 2010. Putting pressure on companies to clean up tar sands “simply nutty”: Canadian government official | Greenpeace Canada. Putting pressure on companies to clean up tar sands "simply nutty": Canadian government official. Available at: http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/Blog/putting-pressure-on-companies-to-clean-up-tar/blog/29163 [Accessed January 20, 2011].

U.S.Dept. of State, 2009. Permit for Alberta Clipper Pipeline Issued. Available at: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/aug/128164.htm [Accessed January 15, 2011].

Vaughn, S., 2010. 2010 Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to the House of Commons, Ottawa: Office of the Auditor General. Available at: http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_cesd_201012_00_e_34423.html [Accessed January 17, 2011].

WTRG Economics, 2009. OPEC Crude Oil Production 1990 - 2009. Available at: http://www.wtrg.com/oil_graphs/PAPRPOP90.gif [Accessed January 15, 2011].

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[1] A common standard for a barrel of oil is a barrel of Western Texas Intermediate crude oil (WTI) or simply Texas crude.

[2] Personal knowledge of the learner who lived in Alberta since 1967.

[3] Enbridge is the company that will likely build the Northern Gateway pipeline and the Alberta Clipper referred to earlier.

O(h)man...OMAN!

We recently spent a week in the Sultanate of OMAN! and oh man it was fine. From the fresh humid cold of a harsh Lebanese winter we found ourselves basking in the warmth of the Gulf of Oman after a short 3hr direct flight with omanair.com, (5hrs for the return flight to Beirut that stops in Amman).

Happily we happened upon one of the nicest resorts close to the capital Muttrah recommended by friends. Not a hotel resort so without the package tourists, the Oman Dive Centre (ODC) www.omandivecenter.com caters mainly to dive tourists but has a very sweet private beach, sheltered from the winds that cross the Arabian Sea with very well-appointed beach bungalows. I swear whoever designed these, especially the capacious bathrooms, had spent time more time than me on southern Thai islands or Bali and brought back design features to make the bungalows pleasantly furnished and well considered in terms of lay-out, proximity to others, families, etc. Of course the absence of orchid petals on the pillows is noted but it Oman is mostly desert after all! From the dive centre we headed out to sea for a morning of dolphin watching and taxi-ed into Muttrah to check out the port and the old souk but spent most time on the family-friendly beach, drawing pictures in the sand, soaking up the rays, kayaking the shallow (excellent for young swimmers) bay, scrambling on the rocks that border the bay, hiking the hillsides and chowing on camel burgers. The accommodation price (around $200/night) includes the breakfast and dinner buffet's which were pretty good and perfect for hungry kids.

Oman Dive Center

Oman is not cheap...except for gasoline that cost 3.8cents/litre making renting a car totally affordable! Otherwise though it was comparable to Lebanon for accommodation and food in tourist locations but cheaper in local eaterys. If possible though don't let the cost deter you, it is well worth the expense for the experience.

The boys and I arrived in Oman on our own and stayed at the ODC until we were joined by Cecile and took off in a rented car to discover a short strip of Omani coast traveling south from Muscat and its old capital of Muttrah http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscat,_Oman to the town of Sur and on to Ras Al Jinz a distance of 350km but mostly serviced by a super modern highway that winds along the coast. En route we checked out the geomorphologically impressive sites including the Bimmah sinkhole and Wadi Shab where you can hike up the impressive canyon and swim in the pools at the top....high adventure for our little boys!

Bimmah Sink hole

Wadi Shab

We stayed at the Turtle Beach Resort  http://www.hotels-oman.com/Turtle_Beach_Resort which is a weirdly comfortable place, perhaps better suited for the weekend warriors of families of migrant workers who are employed by the state of the art gas plants nearby but still functional for us with clean rooms and a clean beach. The main attraction was the turtles who nest nearby on a 35km long coastal reserve at Ras al Jinz http://www.rasaljinz-turtlereserve.com/. It was a definite highlight when we went at night to see a humongous (1m long, 350kg) mother turtle digging the nest to lay her eggs. Watching 2 wee newborn turtles scrabbling their way to the sea was amazing....no pictures allowed at the reserve so none to post, only highly valued memories.

Turtle Beach Resort

There are options galore in terms of how to discover Oman, as I said we discovered a short strip of it, but there are many places to go in what you come to realise is a pretty empty country of expansive desert but a beautiful coastline and craggy mountains. Salala in the south is sub-tropical and experiences the monsoon and the Hajar mountains, the fabled city of Nizwa and the sand-dunes of Wahiba are other highlights. You can go on tailor-made tours with this reportedly well-organized company http://www.omantrekkingguides.com or as some Quebecois friends of ours did just rent a car and camp along the way which they said was remarkably safe, fun and definitely the cheapest accommodation option!

Sur

Another cool thing about Oman is that for a country with a rich gulf state history it has modernized rapidly but not lost its cultural charm. The Sultan has not gone the way of Dubai or Doha succumbing to steel and glass highrises, they have maintained local architecture and local dress. Omanis are friendly and many speak English well (mandatory learning in schools) so you can have good chats with local people making the culture all the more accessible. Women are equal to men in Oman unlike in other Gulf states and so the jarring perception of their repression exemplified for example by the burka is not very evident and women are seen on the streets and about the place. What goes on behind the closed door of the household is not known. As expected though alcohol is only available from those places accessible to foreigners. From a country with 2 schools and 50km of roads in 1972 it has come an amazingly long way in an astoundingly short period of time and its been done well. 

On the rocks above the ODC

For Beirutis looking for a holiday alternative to Jordan, Egypt or Cyprus we strongly recommend Oman as a great travel experience. And it is very family friendly. We were lucky to hit the end of the annual Muscat Festival and saw this extravagant show-casing of the country on our last evening which was a stunning spectacular held in a lovely park in downtown Muscat. Comment below if you've been, are going or just want to add!

Très Bonne Année du Dragon/Happy New Year of the Dragon

HAPPY NEW YEAR OF THE DRAGON! (au dessous pour la francais)

Conveniently Chinese New Year comes after the advent of that of the Gregorian calendar so we are not too late with our New Years greetings.

Dragon is a legendary animal and it is symbol of emperor in China. Since the Dragon is coated with mysterious color, Chinese consider that the dragon is unpredictable, untouchable and people cannot see its head and tail at the same time. Therefore, we might see something unexpected happening in 2012.

Indeed we are living the uncertainty of what 2012 will bring given that mid-year we will leave Beirut and head off into the yonder. We will know in a few weeks where we will be going but for now the only certainty is that we will move on.

2011 had its moments although was not momentous. The boys grew…nothing new there, but they are certainly maturing and developing into little characters both. Zaki seems to have taught himself to read in French and English (and won’t admit to his Arabic proficiency), does amazing things in Math and thinks he is pretty funny with the knock knock jokes. Kasem is not far behind in reading, is way ahead of his year in Math and comes up with remarkably prescient comments for a 5 year old, perhaps we should call him Rimpoche. Both are proficient with mouse, keyboard and tablet! We are daily grateful that they both seem to be (thus far) problem free and happy little fellas.

Cecile has had a long year of work including going on Emergency mission to the Libya border camps in Tunisia. She has taken up running in a big way and is bouncing back from a knee injury that kept her out of a half-marathon although she was still able to run in the Beirut Marathon relay.

I started off busily completing the requirements for the last module in the Transnational Organized Crime Masters that I am taking online. Just the disssssertation to go (which might take a while) looking at Child Trafficking in the Levant to explain why there is nothing much done/known about it in the interest of galvanizing the information out there so there can be forward motion. No sooner was ‘school over’ than I headed off on a stint in Pakistan evaluating the humanitarian response to the 2010 floods for a group of Canadian NGO’s. March I re-joined the UN (OCHA) for 3 months in Tunisia coordinating (or waiting to coordinate) the response for Libya. This was a bit of an experiment in longer-term assignments and while we managed to get together as a family 3X in 3 months it really didn’t sit well with me to be away from my main role as man-mum.

Summer saw us heading off to Canada or more specifically Alberta as the strength of the $CD made it pretty pricey since we earn $US. It was a good visit though. Great to see my Dad although he is not doing very well but sisters are bearing up with caring for him, yeoman’s work. We headed from Alberta to Ecuador via Bogota, Cecile couldn’t stay on leave forever and headed home but the boys and I were able to spend a month at the house in Vilcabamba. It was great again to relax in the natural beauty of southern Ecuador, enjoy the amazing views, the fresh air, the birds, the flowers, the friends of Vilcabamba. As a bonus we also found wonderful people as new tenants reaffirming my faith in the magical nature of the sacred valley. It has always been very good to me.

Back in Lebanon the summer sizzled and has faded into a proper winter (rainy but snow in the mountains). Cecile after a flurry of work travel in December is busy with negotiations for the next post. I am now working on the dissertation, a training contract with UNRWA (the UN body that looks after Palestinians). I was also in Edmonton again in December to spend some more focused time with Dad who is really beginning to suffer from Alzheimer’s. Hard on him, hard on everyone. Cecile’s parents came for Christmas and (Gregorian calendar) New Year which we spent in Lebanon and had a very family-time of it. The boys are back in school, Kasem in Kindergarten and Zaki well in the lost tooth Grade 1 mix….

We are glad to see friends when they appear and do our best to get around to visit. Certainly all will be welcome where ever we land in this year of the dragon, expect the unexpected!

Très Bonne Année du Dragon !

Le Nouvel An chinois se situe de manière commode juste après le calendrier grégorien et nous donnent une bonne excuse pour ne pas être trop en retard pour vous envoyer nos voeux de Nouvelle Année !

Le Dragon est un animal légendaire et le symbole de l'empereur de Chine. Comme le Dragon est d’une couleur mystérieuse et un animal dont on ne peut pas voir la tête et la queue en même temps, les Chinois le considèrent comme étant  imprévisible et intouchable. Par conséquent, nous pourrions bien voir des évènements inattendus se produire en 2012.

Et en effet, nous vivons déja l'incertitude de ce que 2012 va apporter étant donné qu’à la mi-année, nous allons quitter Beyrouth et partir vers l’inconnu. Nous saurons dans quelques semaines où nous irons, mais pour l'instant la seule certitude est que nous allons partir pour d’autres aventures.

2011 a eu ses bons moments sans être une année forcément mémorable. Les garçons ont grandi ... rien de très nouveau, mais ils grandissent, mûrissent et surtout développent leur propre caractère bien différent l’un de l’autre. Zaki semble s'être appris à lire en français et en anglais par lui même (et ne veut pas admettre ses compétences en arabe), il est étonnant en mathématiques et pense qu'il est assez drôle lorsqu’il fait des blagues. Kasem n'est pas loin derrière en lecture, est très en avance en mathématiques. Il fait des commentaires remarquablement prescients pour son âge, et peut-être devrions nous l'appeler Rimpoche ? Les deux sont très doués  dans l’utilisation de la souris, le clavier, la DS et la tablette! Nous sommes reconnaissants quotidiennement qu’ils soient tous les deux en bonne santé et super heureux.

Cécile a eu une longue année de travail et les développements sans précédent dans la région du Moyen Orient et d’Afrique du Nord ont apporté un renouveau et des défis motivants pour son travail. Elle est également partie en mission d’urgence à Shousha à l’Est de la Tunisie deux jours après que j’ai moi-même quitté cet endroit ! Elle continue de courir sérieusement et se remet d’une blessure au genou qui l’a empêché de courir un semi-marathon, mais elle a quand même réussi à courir le Marathon de Beyrouth en relais.

Je suis maintenant très occupé à compléter le dernier module de ma maîtrise en criminalité organisée transnationale que je suis en ligne avec une Université britannique. Je n’ai plus qu’à finir la disssssertation (ce qui pourrait prendre un certain temps) dont le sujet est la traite des enfants dans les pays du Levant pour expliquer pourquoi il n'y a rien de fait jusqu'à présent ou très peu d’informations connues à ce sujet. L’objectif est d’analyser l'information disponible pour faire avancer le débat sur la traite des enfants.

Je suis parti en mission au Pakistan pour évaluer la réponse humanitaire aux inondations de 2010 pour un groupe d'ONG canadiennes. En mars 2011-j’ai de nouveau rejoins l'ONU (OCHA) pour 3 mois en Tunisie pour coordonner (ou plus précisément attendre de coordonner !~) la réponse humanitaire à la crise en Libye. Ce fut une mission de plus longue durée que d’habitude et même si nous avons réussi à nous retrouver en famille 3 fois en 3 mois ça ne m’a pas plu d’être loin des enfants pour si longtemps.

Cet été nous sommes allés au Canada ou, plus précisément en Alberta (malheureusement le taux de change entre le dollars canadien et le dollars américain était plutôt désavantageux ). Ce fut une bonne visite. C’etait formidable de revoir mon père, bien qu'il n’aille pas très bien et mes soeurs doivent lui apporter beaucoup de soins. Nous nous sommes dirigés de l'Alberta vers l'Equateur via Bogota et les garçons et moi avons passé un mois dans notre maison à Vilcabamba, Cécile a du retourner au travail après une semaine. C'était formidable de pouvoir de nouveau se détendre dans la beauté naturelle du sud de l'Equateur, profiter de la vue magnifique, de l'air frais, des oiseaux, des fleurs, des amis de Vilcabamba. En prime nous avons aussi trouvé des gens merveilleux comme nouveaux locataires pour la maison, ce qui a réaffirmé ma foi en la nature magique de la vallée sacrée. Cet endroit a toujours été très bon pour moi.

De retour au Liban, l'été a disparu et s’est converti en un hiver digne de ce nom (pluvieux, mais de la neige en montagne). Cécile, après une vague de déplacements pour le boulot en décembre est occupée actuellement avec les négociations pour son prochain poste. Quant à moi, je travaille maintenant sur ma thèse, et un contrat de formation avec l'UNRWA (l'organisme de l'ONU qui s'occupe des Palestiniens). J'ai aussi dû retourner à Edmonton à nouveau en décembre pour passer un peu plus de temps avec mon père qui est vraiment en train de souffrir de plus en plus de la maladie d'Alzheimer. Dur pour lui, dur pour tout le monde. Les parents de Cécile sont venus pour Noël et pour le Nouvel An que nous avons passé au Liban . Nous avons eu de très bons moments familiaux avec eux. Les garçons sont de retour à l'école, en dernière année de maternelle pour Kasem et en CP pour Zaki, l’année où tout le monde perd ses dents....

Nous sommes heureux de revoir les amis quand ils « apparaissent » et faisons de notre mieux pour nous déplacer et vous visiter. Pour sûr tous sont les bienvenus à Beyrouth pour les quelques mois qu’ils nous restent et seront les bienvenus quel que soit l’endroit sur la terre ou nous atterrirons …en cette année du dragon, attendez vous à l'inattendu!

Verticale

after the land in the distance is the Mediterranean Sea!

One of the less known pros of living in Lebanon is that you get to ski! The season may be short but it is pretty darn great while it lasts. The biggest of 3 ski resorts in the country, Mzaar Kfardebian (commonly known as Faraya) (skileb.com) is only 1.5hrs drive from Beirut, like the drive from Calgary to Sunshine in Banff. 

On the way at loads of places you can rent everything from gloves and hats to boots and skis for reasonable prices. Mid-week the lift tix aren't astronomical either. That's for lift-op skiing. The alpine possibilities are endless so snowshoeing and back-country skiing is not well developed translating to a) fairly awesome un-tracked days out but b) high risk of avalanche hazard and nearly non-existent mountain rescue capacity.

I have been out snow-shoeing and in a couple of weekends we will attempt Mt. Hermon on snow-shoes. With the kids we stick to the lift-operated slopes as they find their ski legs! Here is a wee video of the boys on their 4th day out (including last year) and their first day with ski poles (which was not my idea!). The other fun thing about skiing Lebanon is that most folks stick to the piste, groomed daily leaving 'off-piste' to people who can handle more varied terrain. I have been to the hill 4 days after fresh snow and still found un-tracked runs!

Hey it isn't the Rocky Mountains but it is the Middle East! Whos' complaining!? Not me!

The long and the short of it: on death and dying.

Death and dying, better a written reflection at the end of 2011 but paving the way for 2012 and moving on.  I returned home to Lebanon just before Christmas to attend the memorial for my friend John Redwine who at 32 has died a short, instant death in a climbing accident on Mt. Sannine. This immediately followed a visit to my Dad who at 87 (this month) is suffering a long, lingering, undignified process of decay due to Alzheimer's disease and all its sorrowful trappings.  Where's the justice in either I have been pondering and then wondering if grappling with the 'justice' issue is perhaps the futile fodder of philosophers and theologians with time to wonder what happens as death approaches. To move on I try to convince myself it is better to celebrate lives as we know/knew them. How appropriate that is in Dad's case, even before he has died I don't know but it helps.

John living large after climbing in Tannourine '10

John is dead, so yes, we mourn his passing with celebration of his life. Such a vibrant youthful friend, full of vitality, bouncing with energy, loads of enthusiasm whether it be for his climbing, his Volty motorbike, or the love of his wife and son, a caring man...and I didn't really know him that well but those impressions of mine seem to be unanimously endorsed by many, many others. Gone. Really as nice a guy as you'll meet on the streets of anywhere; to be honest as 'un-American' as they come....and I mean that in the nicest way.  John will be missed. He was a pillar of the small but growing climbing community here in Lebanon. The climbers slide nights initiated by John and Marcin (who now lives far away in Aus) were bringing all sorts of rock gymnasts out of the woodwork, a fun social moment for sharing video and snaps of climbing exploits and exploring ideas and inspiring future projects. We'll have one in John's honor later this month.


This was something John was good at. Future projects. Inspiring by example. If his past exploits were anything to judge his future by, then he was going to be a busy boy. But all those aspirations, planned trips and projects got torpedoed just before Christmas, a solo excursion, an accident on easy but a bit technical terrain, on a manky steep loose rock-band that was likely even mankier in the unseasonally high temperature, dry tooling, crampons..... all ended with the end of John Redwine. I mean aspirations live on and trips and projects gel in other ways and we should all be inspired by our connection to and closeness with Johnny vin rouge. John we vow to continue with our exploits, keep adventuring ever safely, build a stronger safer climbing community in Lebanon, raise awareness about climbing and its greatnees and as a rock climber's belayer says once ready, we'll....'climb on'. Climb on too John. Climb on.


So thats the short of it. A life swiftly and fully lived now ended. Now the long. My Dad....he is not dead. How appropriate is it to celebrate his life when it isn't over yet? Well, the proud and dignified life of David Rosslyn Powell Pugh is in its waning days. Alzheimers is claiming another soul and Dad's life is steadily degrading and degenerating into a man even to his own family can't recognize. Lucky me, I have been able to spend time with Dad twice this year, in July and once just before Christmas. This last time he has notably declined in his mental condition but still accepted that I belonged and was there to be with him as family. I describe his state this way: he is still there in the back ground and in calmer moments, usually when he is out of the residence lock-down floor where he lives (for his own safety), he comes to the fore but these moments of lucidity are fewer and further between.

Me and Dad, December 2011, Edmonton

What has become more the norm than the exception, at the fore, is a befuddled, frustrated, angrily confused man, a shadow of his former self. He is losing the ability to dress himself, cannot figure out the day of the week, time of the day, which meal is which. He cannot bathe himself and for a man who showered nearly daily for 86 years now he needs bathing and that only happens 1X/week, he shaved daily and now that only happens when his morning isn't so confused as to allow a residence helper to shave him. He hates being unshaven. For a man who is highly educated and has always been careful with both written and spoken word he blathers on tangentially nonsensical words replacing verbs and nouns and pronouns used in incoherent sentence; in July he expressed how much this was distressing for him, he realized it quite consciously and hates it. He is convinced a fellow-resident is his sister in Wales and calls her by that name but refers to her as his daughter despite the fact that our Auntie telephones him daily from Wales. He is convinced, perhaps because he has no money in his pocket or perhaps because he has lost all sense of quantity, that he is being robbed, that the crooks are everywhere and must be watched....and that no one cares. I tried to explain to him (as have my sisters) how secure were his finances and he just dismissed me saying 'oh no...you're one of them'.  Dad is not yet at the stage where we can mourn his passing, but that is coming, I can feel it with a heaviness of heart and I guess what we can do is begin to grieve for the loss of what once was: a gentle, kind and generous man, father of 6 adopted children, a loving husband who never recovered from death-by-cancer of our mother, popular teacher and professor, extraordinarily giving humanitarian and yes, like John, as nice a guy as walks the streets of anywhere.


There is no justice in the rude and sudden ending of John's short life nor in the cruel and excruciating process in the approaching end of my Dad's long life. Not to my mind, not at this moment. With this blog and as we move into 2012 and I try to move on from a sombre December 2011 to help out where I can with the new reality for John's wife and infant son and continue to provide what support I can to my Dad by supporting my sisters from far.

Took the leap.

Took the leap, broke the promise. I'm going for a short visit to Edmonton in December...my mission (which i have chosen to accept) to hang out with my Dad, give my sisters a break from care-giving and see my friends. Alone. Without kids. Its been a while. Last time I had any 'me' time was before the summer madness.

Took the leap because it is hard to tear myself away from my little boys and their large little lives. Really, I just like being around them. And its not the most stable time in the region. I live in fear of not being here if the proverbial hits the rotational and then not being able to get back in.

Took the leap because I am really supposed to be bashing on with my Masters dissertation which is moving at a glacial pace and for sure I will suffer for my procrastinating come spring time.

Took the leap because it is frigging expensive and I haven't worked this fall on account of the dissertation writing thing...then again its only money right?

Middle East Airlines Flight ME201 Depart Beirut, LB (BEY) 10-Dec-11 (Sat) 07:35a Arrive London Heathrow Apt, GB (LHR) 10-Dec-11 (Sat) 10:45a Flight Time 05hr 10min | Economy Aircraft Airbus Industrie A330-200 Stops nonstop Middle East Airlines operated by Air Canada Flight ME4513 Depart London Heathrow Apt, GB (LHR) 10-Dec-11 (Sat) 01:00p Arrive Calgary, CA (YYC) 10-Dec-11 (Sat) 03:20p Flight Time 09hr 20min | Economy Aircraft Airbus Industrie A330-300 Stops nonstop Middle East Airlines operated by Air Canada Flight ME4512 Depart Calgary, CA (YYC) 20-Dec-11 (Tue) 07:05p Arrive London Heathrow Apt, GB (LHR) 21-Dec-11 (Wed) 11:00a Flight Time 08hr 55min | Economy Aircraft Airbus Industrie A330-300 Stops nonstop Middle East Airlines Flight ME202 Depart London Heathrow Apt, GB (LHR) 21-Dec-11 (Wed) 12:10p Arrive Beirut, LB (BEY) 21-Dec-11 (Wed) 06:50p Flight Time 04hr 40min | Economy Aircraft Airbus Industrie A330-200 Stops nonstop

Broke the promise to myself made after a true orgy of summer holiday air travel (coming after spring work air travel) to not travel by air again until 2012. At some point the boot is going to rise out of my carbon footprint and kick my arse hard. How is it possible to be so aware of the problems caused by green house gas emissions and then get on a plane? Someone said that if you add up all the emissions caused by all the experts traveling to all the meetings to discuss the emissions that you would have a significant reduction!

Anyway. It will be good for me to see Dad and I hope good for him to see me. Hoping that it will be like this summer where there wasn't a real conscious recognition that happened, rather a simpler one on an emotional level that just made it natural. Fingers crossed and not to worry. Not to go now while I have the chance might lead to regrets....and we wouldn't want that! More to be said on the injustice of finishing ones life off so dependent and so frustrated and so deeply unhappy, so without dignity.

It will be great to see the friends in Alberta and be considerably freer than when I am with the little boys. A different time, later nights, later mornings....ahhh. relishing a bit of a lie-in already. And who knows, I might even get a bit of work done on the old dissertation....probably not.

The new reality next door....some call it progress

This has been going on all week they start at 07h45 in the morning!

Turn up your VOLUME for the full effect

(pictures/video shot from our terrace)

This tree (upper left) survived how many wars but couldn't survive the peace.

What I discovered in my efforts to 'save the tree' is that actually (and I really resisted believing this for the longest time), its true,
no one cares, not one local person stepped up to help in a meaningful way and I spread the word quite widely and through one helpful media contact. 

This is one of the last trees remaining on this street and one of few in the city.

Bludgeoned to death by a back-hoe. Thankfully we were out of town when the deed was done.

Grey, the predominant colour.

Noisy, dusty, blocks the street, apparently going down 5 storeys 
Only 6 months to go?


....and they call this progress!? 
your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

Bringing up kids in the digital age.

omg. Its amazing to imagine what the world will be like for my boys when they have kids. For my parents the world of worry about media exposure for us kids was limited to television (all 3 English and 1 French channel), movies (either it was rated child-friendly or not) and music records (which we couldn't afford) we might listen to at friends houses but we didn't because most friends didn't have them either. In fact, it wasn't really much of a worry at all.

For parents today policing media exposure is hugely more complex and to my mind quite worrying. Who said the world is getting smaller when access to it has increased exponentially, the internet has exploded my world!? Today there are games and apps (huh?) on all manner of contraptions, smart phones, gameboys, xbox, ds, ipad, iphone, i don't even know their names. DVDs abound and are cheaply accessed, some kind of web-enabled device is in every room in the house (exaggeration but you get my drift) and everything is connected to wifi or 3G so internet enabled. Essentially there is a huge open picture window looking out into the world inside nearly every screen you have. Media access for everyone.

Who doesn't know Ben 10?

And then there is TV with its myriad number of channels to navigate everything from nature show, Nat Geo, reality shows, cartoons, movies (all in English or French, Russian, Arabic....take your pick). I was recalibrating our 'Children's Favorite' channels on the remote control the other day and realised that there were more than 30 channels French or English channels to choose from! Nuts. What a difference from the good old days of little or no choice... Flintstones at lunch hour, Giligans Island and Hogans Heros after school....!? Something I realised in Malaysia was when Zaki at 4 years old came home and asked 'daddy, who is Mickey Mouse guy?'....you can't bring your kids up in a bubble lest they feel like weirdos because they don't know the basic whos who of popular (read commercialized) culture. Better to expose them to it at home where you know what they are getting into.

We haven't had to deal with this one yet but managing social networking is just around the corner....my approach is to introduce it while I can still have a measure of control over it so Zaki will get his fb page when he turns 7 in February and we'll take it from there. While I find facebook and linkedin useful to stay connected, this is largely a derivative of having a truly global group of e-connected friends and colleagues and so I can see how they would be only marginal e-accessories and only entertaining if most of my 'friends' were also my neighbors who I could actually meet up with. Ultimately though what I also achieve is to use these new tools and evolve with them so that once the boys get into them I am ahead of the curve and not behind it...a lesson I learned from my Dad who never really got on the technology curve (the home computer he got from the University back in '89 before retiring never really made it out of the box). For the past nearly 20yrs that I have had an email address we have never had an internet encounter (unless you count skype calls?) as a result inevitably a certain distance has grown between us...

A favorite and near nightly occupation for Mum or Dad.

Our current coping strategy includes having an e-schedule that limits screen-time on the wii, iPad, computer and TV. Also its helpful that the boys keep involved in after-school activities and so don't have too much time down-time to fill. All in all they have about 5 scheduled hrs/week and probably 1-2 unscheduled hrs of screen time. Last year when I was more organized computer time was only for educational games. This year on computer we are only watching music vids (that we choose) on youtube.com/music and I just discovered soundcloud.com. Limiting screen time teaches the boys that we choose our media and what we look at ourselves, it is not a free-for-all and the media should never dictate to us. There is never any screen-time after dinner so that their dream-time is not so invaded by whatever they watched last, rather by homework, the dinner conversation and the books they read before sleeping...does this work?...perhaps; Kasem still has 'nightmares' about events or things viewed during the day but certainly cutting out after-dinner screen time has helped.

The demographic of their school friends means that many kids here are being brought up by their nannies. Last year we realised that when Zaki went to a friends' houses he ended up watching who knows what DVD's, playing what games on various devices and actually not really 'playing' at all. What I do know is he came home firing his 'air gun' at everything that moved and insisting that he get a nintendo ds. Recently when one of Zaki's friends came over to play he brought his own iPad which was full of age inappropriate apps. In the 3 hrs he was here our boys had 2 meltdowns each.

Age appropriate? Who knows but they love the classic comics.

We are using age appropriate ratings as a sort of filter with the boys so that the first thing we look at when searching for a new app, game etc is the age rating. Its there on most games, apps, dvd's, etc...not always the first thing you see but usually there. If it isn't age appropriate we automatically discount it and move on. This seems to work. This website was pointed out to me (on fb) http://www.commonsensemedia.org/ and might be worth checking out when thinking of melting the mind of your young one when exposing them to new media. And this is my next step to try and give them 'centering' tools that can help them through the coming years... meditation... http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/10/how-meditating-helps-with-multitasking/

Would really love it if you could click below and comment on your own experiences, coping strategies and useful tools or websites.

On language and learning

Language and learning continues to be a fascinating journey of discovery as parents of kids growing up in multi-lingual settings. Our approach has been unequivocally open to the potential of having little linguists; Cecile has always spoken French to the boys and me English and now they are fluent in both and learning Arabic and there have been exciting moments in the process.

Until his 4th summer Zaki would always reply to Cecile in English which was frustrating for her but finally, visiting her parents in 2009, I remember Zaki racing upstairs in their house where I was unpacking saying "daddy i can understand Mamie (Cecile's mum)" and i said "sure Zaki thats because you're a little French boy and you can talk to her in French as well". A little while later he was back breathlessly excited saying "...and daddy i can talk to her too!" he was so proud of himself at this revelation and, of course, I was extremely happy for him, he hasn't looked back.

Now, here in Lebanon, they get Arabic 6 hrs a week in school. We don't speak it at all at home, the only consistent exposure they have are our building guards and concierge who are Syrian. We know however that they are actively learning it....and it is quite likely that Zaki was reading Arabic before either French or English. On a trip to the airport in February we passed an Arabic exit sign and Zaki said 'daddy thats the exit for the airport' and I asked how he knew....and he said 'because i read the sign'....this before he was really reading French or English.

Now months later Zaki reads English (although he has never had any formally taught English lessons) reads French, and is writing in Arabic and French as his school workbooks attest. Kasem seems to learn language simultaneously he goes along. Before the summer he said "daddy i can count to 100" and off he went, in English, faultlessly counting to 100 and he has only been formally taught numbers in French (and only up to 20!).

They both understand Arabic when spoken too and just lack the confidence to reply to all but the most simple phrases. We endeavour to find someone to come in and speak to them in Arabic so that they can understand that it is a 'normal' language to speak and thereby reinforce their learning by using the language. Zaki just started guitar lessons and I asked the teacher to only speak Arabic! The other day in the shower Kasem wrote his name 'KASEM' on the steamed up mirror and so I asked him to write it in Arabic.....which to my surprise he did...writing it once then rubbing it out saying 'thats not right' and doing it again! And he sings equally beautifully the Arabic and French songs that he learns in school.

We will certainly regret not having learned enough Arabic ourselves to have more actively encouraged this learning process especially if, when we move on as we will in July next year, they forget their Arabic. This will almost certainly happen if we do not end up in another Arabic language environment because there will be no practice at home. And there will likely be yet another 'third language'. It would be great to have a secret family language in such places but time and opportunity have really thwarted my efforts to learn. The real challenge for us remains using what little we have learned; the people on the street want to practice their English or default to English (as a courtesy to the visitor) defeating and deflating our efforts rather than reinforcing and encouraging us. This is a common complaint of the expat language learner, but in the end probably just a tired but useful excuse for undisciplined laziness!

Kasem's birthday, Lebanese style...not.

Kasem turned 5 this week and I ducked into party planner mode if only briefly between writing a paper on the global response to transnational organized crime, addressing a few consultancy issues left over from Libya and trying to sort out my desk which has fallen into a chaotic state of layered anarchy...

Birthdays parties and what they say about societies leaves much space for cross-cultural commentary. We find, at times, this dimension of our global gadabout lives puts stress into the expat parental party planning process. The experience here is for parties to be rather grandotta, loud....and stylish following the cultural need for things to appear to be grand and lavish; we're doing well...just come and see!

As a result you can: hire an entire team of animators...from a party planning company of which there are very many, to include: a magician, clown, dj, mc, helpers, speaker system enorme (so loud music throughout), cake, activities, balloons...did i forget something? oh yes, the food. never has the mini-burger and mini-pizza seen so much exposure...and never has so much junk food been wasted as you sell your kids to junk food culture. Venue-wise you could have your party in a gzillion places that cater to such things, every weekend there are kids parties in restaurants, resorts, beaches, sports clubs...so if you had planned a nice quiet lunch with friends at a popular spot with families.... be prepared for a mini-rave.

The boys this year are in a football club called Sportsville. It is an indoor facility with astro turf (since there is nearly no natural green space in all of Beirut) and they are coached by professional players 3X/week. Kasem is particularly mad for it and so we thought, lets have his party there. Excellent. Go and see the facility coordinators to learn it will be $35/kid and there is only 1 package and it includes all of the above except the animators will be the coaches and the activities  centered around football (add magician and clown for ++$). Local tradition requires you invite all the kids in the school class, all the ones in the football team and lets not forget the capoeira class kids too. Allowing for some overlap in numbers that would = $1750....holy crap. my poor old Mum would be doing back-flips in her grave (had she not been cremated).

Fear and a clear yogic mind saved us and we didn't go this route (relax Mum) although it was only a week before b-day that we reverted back to our more sane 'small is beautiful' approach and canceled Sportsville. Instead we invited only the kids Kasem wanted to come (and a few he didn't like girls for example!)...and perhaps because it wasn't the normal lash-out few of his Lebanese friends came so we had only 12 nice little boys and girls. We went to the nearest forest reserve called Baabda Forest (www.terreliban.org) situated in a small valley surrounded by urban development on the ridges around but that is in a pine forest up above the city with a climbing wall and zip-line, nature walk and err....donkey ride.

The price tag needless to say was lower, as were our stress-levels without the blaring music, and instead of being surrounded by the masses of overwhelmed psyches (which to me must be part of what makes these events hard for adults and kids alike to handle), he was surrounded by pine trees.

I hope that Kasem had a more memorable time of it....last year was the beach, the year before an eco-resort....and to the credit of the Lebanese there was another kids party there and apparently the place is busy with such events so clearly catering to 'appearances' isn't an all encompassing ethos, just the annoyingly pervasive one.