geology / en Northern exposure: 茄子直播 researcher travels to the Arctic to study algae /news/northern-exposure-u-t-researcher-travels-arctic-study-algae <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Northern exposure: 茄子直播 researcher travels to the Arctic to study algae</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-10-28-utm-arctic-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=xsGLhU5Y 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2016-10-28-utm-arctic-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Dfvhu3d0 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2016-10-28-utm-arctic-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=JbnAgh-A 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-10-28-utm-arctic-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=xsGLhU5Y" alt="Iceberg and ship in the Arctic"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-10-28T12:03:22-04:00" title="Friday, October 28, 2016 - 12:03" class="datetime">Fri, 10/28/2016 - 12:03</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">茄子直播 researcher Jochen Halfar spent three weeks sailing in Canada's Arctic. Starting in Greenland, he sailed around Baffin Island, collecting coralline algae (photos courtesy of Jochen Halfar)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/blake-eligh" hreflang="en">Blake Eligh</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Blake Eligh</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/arctic" hreflang="en">Arctic</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/climate-change" hreflang="en">Climate Change</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/geology" hreflang="en">geology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">茄子直播 Mississauga</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/utm" hreflang="en">UTM</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>茄子直播 geologist <strong>Jochen Halfar</strong> was bundled up in polar fleece this past summer, searching Arctic waters for algae.</p> <p>Halfar, an associate professor of geology at 茄子直播 Mississauga, is a paleoclimatologist who&nbsp;studies how the climate&nbsp;changes and behaves over long periods of time. His research this summer took him on two northern expeditions, first above the Arctic Circle near Spitsbergen, Norway, followed by three weeks on a sailboat in Canada鈥檚 North.</p> <p>His mission? Trying to collect samples of coralline algae, a rock-like organism that grows in shallow waters on the ocean floor. The algae has a distinctive calcium carbonate skeleton which, like trees, forms annual rings, growing upwards at one layer per year.</p> <p>鈥淟ocked into that layer is important climate information,鈥 Halfar says. 鈥淚 can see annual cycles of temperature and get information about water temperatures over a hundred years ago.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__2349 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/2016-10-28-utm-arctic2-embed.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>The&nbsp;research ship surrounded by sea ice as it sails to Norway&nbsp;</em></p> <p>The algae also sheds light on sea ice coverage over time.</p> <p>鈥淚n a stable environment, these algae can grow for centuries. They need light to grow, so if there is a buildup of ice and snow on the surface, no light will penetrate and the algae will go dormant,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 am looking for periods of growth and dormancy that can tell us about how long sea ice occurred over a winter.鈥</p> <p>Halfar鈥檚 first expedition consisted of three weeks aboard the Maria S. Merian, a research vessel with 15 scientists who were collecting data for various projects. Leaving from Reykjavik, Iceland, the ship sailed north, arriving near Spitsbergen, about 1,300 kilometers from the North Pole.</p> <p>Halfar鈥檚 samples are typically collected by scuba divers who use a chisel and hammer to prise the algae from the rocks. The algae can be found as far south as Maine. But&nbsp;the location of Halfar鈥檚 Norwegian samples 鈥 the northern-most specimens ever collected 鈥 presented a special challenge.</p> <p>To collect the Spitsbergen samples, Halfar took a three-hour trip below the icy ocean surface in a two-person submersible equipped with an arm to scoop up algae. Halfar collaborated with former postdoctoral student <strong>Steffen Hetzinger</strong>, now with the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in Germany, to collect and analyze samples.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__2350 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="563" src="/sites/default/files/2016-10-28-utm-arctic3-embed.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>茄子直播 researcher Jochen Halfar in a two-person submarine as he studies coralline algae specimens in the Arctic</em></p> <p>Following his Spitsbergen adventure, Halfar flew to Greenland, where he embarked on the next leg of the journey aboard the Vagabond, a 15-meter chartered sailboat that would be home for the next three weeks. Halfar shared cramped quarters with&nbsp;the Vagabond鈥檚 captain and his family and a four-person film crew from the German-French network ARTE, who are producing a documentary about Halfar鈥檚 research that will air in January 2017.</p> <p>A three-day sea voyage took Halfar from Greenland to Canada where the team sailed around the northern coast of Baffin Island, eventually tracing a route across Lancaster Sound to Resolute Bay and around the smaller islands. After Halfar left, graduate student <strong>Alicia Hou</strong> continued the research, travelling through the Gulf of Boothia to Goose Bay, Labrador.</p> <p>鈥淚鈥檓 trying to collect longer-term records going back several hundred years over as wide an area as possible,鈥 Halfar says. 鈥淚 have to cover a wide geographic area to create this network.鈥</p> <p>Thanks to satellite technology, we know how the ice has retreated over the last 40 years 鈥渂ut we don鈥檛 know what happened before that,鈥 Halfar says. 鈥淲e are trying to get a long-term picture of how sea ice has behaved over the years and before the time of human influence, like the Industrial Revolution. With the algae, I can reconstruct that information.鈥</p> <p>Halfar鈥檚 specimen haul amounted to about 80 kilograms&nbsp;of samples, which will undergo geochemical analysis. The data will provide clues about climate in past centuries and help predict what might happen in the future, too.</p> <p>鈥淭hat data can be used by climate physicists to create models that project climate into the future,鈥 Halfar says. 鈥淚f we understand the past better, we can predict the future of the ice in the Arctic.鈥</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__2351 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="498" src="/sites/default/files/2016-10-28-utm-arctic4-embed.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>Jochen Halfar and former postdoctoral student Steffen Hetzinger with coralline algae specimens collected at 80潞 North, near Spitsbergen.</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 28 Oct 2016 16:03:22 +0000 ullahnor 101780 at Polanyi Prize awarded to Barbara Sherwood Lollar /news/polanyi-prize-awarded-barbara-sherwood-lollar <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Polanyi Prize awarded to Barbara Sherwood Lollar </span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-02-16T05:02:53-05:00" title="Tuesday, February 16, 2016 - 05:02" class="datetime">Tue, 02/16/2016 - 05:02</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Might life really exist, or have existed, on Mars? Geoscientist Sherwood Lollar is adding to the growing body of evidence that such an idea isn鈥檛 as sci-fi as once thought (all photos and video by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of C</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/sean-bettam" hreflang="en">Sean Bettam</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Sean Bettam</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/top-stories" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nserc" hreflang="en">NSERC</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/geology" hreflang="en">geology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/environment" hreflang="en">Environment</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/earth-sciences" hreflang="en">Earth Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/awards" hreflang="en">Awards</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Research into billion-year-old water may hold clues to ancient life on Earth and Mars</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong><a href="http://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards/uprofessors/complete/Prof__Barbara_Sherwood_Lollar.htm">Barbara Sherwood Lollar</a>,</strong> <a href="http://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards/uprofessors.htm">University Professor</a> in earth sciences, has won the prestigious <a href="http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Prizes-Prix/Index_eng.asp">NSERC</a> <a href="https://www.chem.utoronto.ca/ppl/faculty_profile.php?id=52"><strong>John C. Polanyi</strong></a> Award for her pioneering research into billion-year-old water and the clues it may provide to ancient life on Earth and Mars.</p> <p>The award, named for the University of Toronto's Nobel laureate,&nbsp;honours an individual or team whose Canadian-based research has led to a recent outstanding advance in the natural sciences or engineering.</p> <p>Sherwood Lollar was&nbsp;one of <a href="http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Prizes-Prix/Index_eng.asp">five 茄子直播 scholars receiving major&nbsp;NSERC prizes </a>on Feb. 16. Professors <strong>Shana Kelley</strong> and <strong>Ted Sargent</strong>&nbsp;received the Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering and&nbsp;Professor&nbsp;<strong>David Sinton</strong> and&nbsp;Associate&nbsp;Professor&nbsp;<strong>Stephen Wright </strong>both&nbsp;received E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowships.</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/brockhouse-canada-prize-goes-professors-shana-kelley-ted-sargent">Read more about Kelley, Sargent and the Brockhouse Prize</a></h2> <p>Sherwood Lollar and colleagues grabbed headlines around the world with their discovery of ancient waters bubbling out of rock fractures in mines more than two kilometres underground in Timmins, Ontario and South Africa. Their analysis of this billion-year-old water showed it contained biologically useful chemicals and much more hydrogen gas than previously thought&nbsp;鈥&nbsp;conditions similar to those found near deep sea vents, which host thriving microbial ecosystems.</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/barbara-sherwood-lollar">Read more about research by Barbara Sherwood Lollar</a></h2> <p>鈥淭he joy of discovery has been at the heart of this work by our team 鈥 opening our eyes to the understanding that even here on Earth there are regions of our hydrosphere and biosphere still unexplored,鈥 Sherwood Lollar said.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ofkh0w5KVOc?rel=0" width="560"></iframe></p> <p>Sherwood Lollar has surmised that similar deep chemical processes may exist on Mars, where NASA has already found rocks of comparable age and geology.</p> <p>The research represents a quantum shift in our conception of how old groundwater can be and expands our understanding of energy-producing chemical reactions that sustain deep microbial life, particularly in the Precambrian rocks, like those of the Canadian Shield, which globally make up more than 70 per cent of the Earth鈥檚 continental crust.</p> <p>The findings could also prove useful for a future Mars expedition and in understanding the geochemical processes at play in waste disposal and groundwater cleanup.</p> <p>Sherwood Lollar鈥檚 work is recognized internationally for its contribution to deep subsurface microbiology and hydrocarbon geochemistry, as well as astrobiology and space exploration.</p> <p>The graduate of Harvard, Waterloo and Cambridge universities has earned many awards, including a Steacie, a Killam and the Eni Award for Protection of the Environment, as well as recognition from the American Geophysical Union, Geological Society of America and Helmholtz Foundation. In 2013, <em>Canadian Geographic</em> selected her as one of their 鈥淭en Canadians Changing the World.鈥</p> <p>鈥淲e are very grateful to NSERC and to Canada for this award, as there is no higher honour than to receive a recognition that bears the name of our 茄子直播 colleague and Nobel laureate, the icon <strong>John Polanyi</strong>,鈥 said Sherwood Lollar.</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/nserc">Read about previous NSERC award winners at 茄子直播</a></h2> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2016-02-16-nserc-lollar.jpg</div> </div> Tue, 16 Feb 2016 10:02:53 +0000 sgupta 7650 at Six things to know about oil: 茄子直播 geologist explains pricing, pipelines, products /news/six-things-know-about-oil-u-t-geologist-explains-pricing-pipelines-products <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Six things to know about oil: 茄子直播 geologist explains pricing, pipelines, products</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-02-04T09:50:02-05:00" title="Thursday, February 4, 2016 - 09:50" class="datetime">Thu, 02/04/2016 - 09:50</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(photo of Fort McMurray, Alberta by kris kr眉g via flickr)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/noreen-ahmed-ullah" hreflang="en">Noreen Ahmed-Ullah</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Noreen Ahmed-Ullah</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/geology" hreflang="en">geology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/environment" hreflang="en">Environment</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Professor Andrew Miall: 鈥淕lobally we use 90 million barrels of oil every day. That鈥檚 a heck of a lot of energy.鈥</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Oil prices are dropping, oil companies are reporting losses and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is vowing to be a responsible mediator on pipeline issues.</p> <p>茄子直播 News asked Professor <strong>Andrew Miall </strong>of geology for a primer on oil 鈥 from how it鈥檚 priced to how it鈥檚 transported and used.&nbsp;鈥</p> <p>Here are the six things Miall says everyone needs to know about oil:</p> <p><strong>There's a&nbsp;word that explains why the price of oil has dropped.</strong><br> Oversupply. There鈥檚 more oil on the market right now than we actually need. Up until the 1970s, oil prices were very stable and quite low&nbsp;鈥&nbsp;in the range of $10 to $15 a barrel. The oil markets back then were completely dominated by large oil companies like Exxon, Shell, British Petroleum, Chevron. Then in 1973-1974, there was the Yom Kippur war in the Middle East between Israel and its Arab neighbours. The United States offered unquestioning support and assistance to Israel, making the Middle Eastern countries very angry and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members decided to limit supply to the West to seek revenge. The price shot up. It was a limited supply, and in the United States, gas stations literally ran out of oil. The oil market has never been the same since.&nbsp;</p> <p>OPEC has managed to control supply since then, but their power over the markets has become diminished in recent years largely because of the appearance of a large supply from other areas. The North Sea, for example, became a big player in the 1980s and 1990s. Russia also became a big supplier. In recent years, the United States has become one of the world鈥檚 leading oil producers after many years of being considered to have exhausted all its oil fields. This is because of new technologies that can liberate oil from very unpromising formations, known as fracking.&nbsp;</p> <p>So the United States has become one of the largest producers of oil, and OPEC countries, Saudi Arabia in particular, have been very concerned because they鈥檝e seen not only the price dropping, but realize they could lose their market share. So they made a strategic decision to not reduce their own output, which meant the oversupply increased dramatically. When you have a massive oversupply of any commodity on the market, the price will drop. We鈥檝e had a steady drop in price from a high of about $140 a barrel in June 2008, to now around the $30 range.</p> <p><strong><img alt="photo of colourful oil barrels" src="/sites/default/files/2016-02-04-oil-barrels.jpg" style="width: 159px; height: 240px; margin: 10px; float: right;">Actual barrels are no longer a thing</strong><br> The 鈥渂arrel鈥 is used as a convenient measure because in the old days that鈥檚 really how oil was transported. The actual calculation is 1 barrel equals 44 Imperial gallons (in the UK), 53 U.S. gallons, or 200 L.&nbsp;</p> <p>(<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/magnera/3755006104/in/photolist-6HPouy-9Twmw8-8dhgGv-ifTcMa-6XGAK9-7EXyv-4Ze4ea-btXVa8-aQQGVZ-8Tqmzz-ifTcJK-sPyJKR-4N1oMe-cjFdbW-fbmtHY-boPXcw-bsv7CV-pdLJdD-aCmeaq-4VcFAD-8gggMF-9BL43Z-apPrfU-73PXSP-rqS15K-6YEu2c-dVU8h8-6Phdq7-qLwkpt-4ECoaH-7VPjCG-aV1yyX-8ggf8F-8grCWG-8girrB-8gp2Gp-8gs4NC-8gr2TC-8gq6wK-8gnuZS-8gnc8o-8gmyhb-8gsNLY-8gkzkh-8gokbM-8gsDGf-8gqD4W-8gnPPf-8gjm1t-8gsHY7">photo by L.C. N酶ttaasen via flickr</a>)</p> <p><strong>Crude oil and gasoline are not the same</strong><br> Crude oil comes out of the ground and varies tremendously in viscosity. It can be a light liquid or it can be a much thicker liquid, so thick that it doesn鈥檛 flow off the rocks at all. That鈥檚 what the oil sands are. The alternative name for oil sands is tar sands because it just sticks to the sand. That鈥檚 why it needs these industrial processes to release the oil from the sand. Gasoline refers to the light, low viscosity oil that is a product of refining that is used as a fuel for motorcars. Fossil fuels is a general term for oil, natural gas and coal. Fossil fuels are products of decay of organic material in sedimentary rocks over a long geologic time period. They provide 80 to 85 per cent of the world鈥檚 energy needs. Globally we use 90 million barrels of oil every day. That鈥檚 a heck of a lot of energy.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>A drop in the price of oil does not mean&nbsp;gas prices go&nbsp;down</strong><br> The gasoline price is going down but it is not going down as much as people would like. It has a lot to do with the costs of refining, transporting and marketing, which has not changed. A lot of what鈥檚 done in the industry depends on imports from the United States, which of course has to be paid for in US dollars. That means they鈥檙e more expensive. So we cannot expect the price of gasoline at the pump to fully reflect the changing price of crude oil on the world market. It鈥檚 never going to do that exactly.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Pipelines are controversial but mostly safe</strong><br> For a very long time, Canada was providing a very large proportion of the imported oil that the United States was using. Around the 1970s, the United States did not produce enough oil domestically to satisfy its own needs. So it started to import it. Canada provided about a quarter of the oil that the United States was importing. The North American oil for a very long time worked as if it was a seamless continental industry, with production, refinery, pipeline and delivery all managed as if the Canada-U.S. border did not exist.</p> <p>For example, we鈥檝e long been exporting oil and natural gas from Alberta to the United States through pipelines across the border in the West, from Alberta to Montana for example. The East Coast oil from Hibernia off Newfoundland is largely exported to eastern United States for refining there, and then re-imported back into Canada in the form of usable domestic refined products like gasoline. So there鈥檚 a tremendous amount of cross border trade that鈥檚 been going on for a long time. It was considered a quite natural proposal to build a pipeline from Alberta into the United States for the delivery of crude oil from the oil sands to refineries in Oklahoma. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>That was the origin of the Keystone Pipeline proposal. But this proposal came at a time when there was heightened concern about use of fossil fuels and its effect on greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental concerns began to affect the progress of the continental oil industry. Keystone became a standard bearer for environmentalists in their determination to slow down if not end the oil industry completely in the interest of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.</p> <p><img alt="photo of Keystone" src="/sites/default/files/2016-02-04-keystone-flickr.jpg" style="width: 640px; height: 259px; margin: 10px;">(<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shannonpatrick17/8480337530/in/photolist-dVnWU3-dDaXmh-4dJLmX-rrwcfU-4DZov3-ogvPnb-qFUErS-8rrDBk-9xXjY-hHmnUU-t8Z1dx-9fzeNf-oewxtL-dVnX4W-rpVa5N-b5yjev-h93mzS-DfSmD-hyaTSf-5Yiy99-5gYUWg-k3ZHvR-aCyoBm-aCvEi2-7K7uSZ-qKRPzu-4scuyw-81fSdB-bmVqvm-8paNG7-4jC5me-8m4qHa-4wd7Ge-jczYL-r3rFa6-q6BU3B-eHEhrt-nzMXYB-pPnFHi-5fq7Qu-8m4qH6-fjrWva-f76JUK-srkJXE-nnuTLC-faksxt-fjrWcD-5fkJXp-aCyn9s-bCYMag">Photo of Keystone by Shannon Ramos via&nbsp;flickr</a>)&nbsp;</p> <p>There鈥檚 something like 100,000 km worth of pipelines, crisscrossing Canada right now, carrying all kinds of oils and fuels. There are a number of big pipeline proposals on the table for Canada for a few years now. Besides Keystone, there鈥檚 also the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal to deliver oil from Alberta to Kitimat on the west coast of British Columbia. There鈥檙e several others. Some are not receiving final approval because of Aboriginal concerns, environmental concerns and concerns about increased tanker traffic along the British Columbia coastline.</p> <p>The last project that looked like it would have the least problems was the Canada East proposal, which was designed to convert an existing pipeline from Alberta to Ontario. It鈥檚 an entirely Canadian route, to convert it from gas to oil and to tie it into an existing pipeline that crosses part of Ontario, and build a new pipeline through Quebec that would then extend that line to St. John, New Brunswick. Montreal mayor Denis Coderre has legitimate concerns about pipeline leaks, about pollution of groundwater. By and large pipelines are extremely safe. The alternative is transport by rail and you only have to say words Lac-M茅gantic to know what transporting oil by rail can lead to.</p> <p><strong>Fossil fuels are everywhere</strong><br> There is a very strong concern about climate change that fossil fuels are one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore we should start to transition away from the use of fossil fuels to other sources of energy.&nbsp;</p> <p>One of the things that I think is not fully understood in Canada 鈥 not only is the oil and gas industry a very important part of our economy in terms of jobs and earnings, it also provides this essential part of the energy supply that we cannot live without. Right now there are no alternatives to the use of oil and natural gas on a large scale. Things like air transport. Oil from the ground is refined for lubricating oil, grease. It鈥檚 not widely understood that virtually all of our synthetic materials 鈥 plastics, resins, synthetic material used in furniture and clothing 鈥 they all come from petroleum. These are what are called petrochemical products.</p> <p>The plastics industry would not exist without petroleum. So the idea that we can shut down this fossil fuel industry and replace it with wind power, solar panels and biofuels is not yet possible. It鈥檚 much too early to be talking about shutting down the fossil fuel industry. We simply do not have the alternative technology in place yet to allow us to do that. This means the oil industry needs its infrastructure. It desperately needs these pipelines.</p> <p>The new Trudeau government has to find a way to make this possible by working hard to develop what Justin Trudeau has called the social license 鈥 the general widespread public acceptance of the need for this pipeline. He has to satisfy the public that the legitimate environmental concerns are being taken care of, that aboriginal rights are respected, that procedures are in place to properly manage pipeline breaks, and that companies are behaving responsibly.</p> <p>Until all of that is done, then we will not be able to build any major pipeline. They are essential to the further progress of the Canadian economy. I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 overstating it, especially because at the present time, there really isn鈥檛 any reasonable alternative.</p> <p>(<em>photo below of Professor Miall by Jon Horvatin</em>)</p> <p><img alt="photo of Professor Andrew Miall in lab" src="/sites/default/files/2016-02-08-AndrewMiall.jpg" style="width: 640px; height: 426px; margin: 20px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;(<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kk/6855367701/in/photolist-brMxYR-6XCBk8-8FKkZE-8dhgHx-6Pd1Y2-8dhgKT-dLL3Yq-8xKXsc-oTPMJV-6Pd3pn-6PhbRy-ifTv8d-7GcGSZ-s4mPh-6HPouy-9Twmw8-8dhgGv-ifTcMa-6XGAK9-7EXyv-4Ze4ea-btXVa8-aQQGVZ-8Tqmzz-ifTcJK-sPyJKR-4N1oMe-cjFdbW-fbmtHY-boPXcw-bsv7CV-pdLJdD-aCmeaq-4VcFAD-8gggMF-9BL43Z-apPrfU-73PXSP-rqS15K-6YEu2c-dVU8h8-6Phdq7-qLwkpt-4ECoaH-7VPjCG-aV1yyX-8ggf8F-8grCWG-8girrB-8gp2Gp">Visit flickr to see the original of the Fort McMurray photo used at top</a>)</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2016-02-04-fort-mcmurray.jpg</div> </div> Thu, 04 Feb 2016 14:50:02 +0000 sgupta 7633 at Earth Sciences, Department of /node/8500 <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Earth Sciences, Department of</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-01-07T15:47:11-05:00" title="Thursday, January 7, 2016 - 15:47" class="datetime">Thu, 01/07/2016 - 15:47</time> </span> <div class="field field--name-field-url field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">URL</div> <div class="field__item">https://www.es.utoronto.ca</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-above clearfix"> <h3 class="field__label">Tags</h3> <ul class="links field__items"> <li><a href="/news/tags/geology" hreflang="en">geology</a></li> <li><a href="/news/tags/geological-science" hreflang="en">geological science</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-campus field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Campus</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6953" hreflang="en">St. George</a></div> </div> Thu, 07 Jan 2016 20:47:11 +0000 sgupta 8500 at