Lesson 8 Prompt: Research Topic Visual

I am planning on using the topic of the development of Alberta’s oil sands for my research paper. The article Canada’s Tar Sands: Muck and Brass, which has no author listed, from the magazine The Economist, contains an image of an oil sands worker holding a muddy handful of tar sand with the words filthy rich below it. The workers hand is stained with oil, showing the dirtiness associated with the oil sands industry. The image does not sway my opinion of the topic but raises an interesting problem, the environmental impact associated with the development of oil sands production. It shows that while there is a great economic benefit from the oil sands it comes at an environmental cost. This image has prompted me look at wither the economic benefits of oil sands development outweigh the environmental costs in my essay. I have attached the image below.