| A local environmental think-tank has turned party-crasher in America’s capital.
The party is the Smithsonian Institute’s annual Folklife Festival, a cultural exhibition that draws more than one million visitors to the city annually. This year it tells the story of all things Alberta.
Responding to what they feel is an overrepresentation of the oilsands, the Pembina Institute is paying a visit to the capital, raising awareness about the province’s environmental issues. Marlo Reynolds, executive director of the institute, says the festival is being hijacked.
"The festival is supposed to be predominantly about folk life, and it seems Alberta is using it to lobby for the oilsands," Reynolds says. "It doesn’t make sense to promote the oilsands when Alberta’s economy is already overheated.… I think we would much prefer to see more accurate descriptions of environmental issues here at the Folklife Festival. That’s the main reason we came down."
Hundreds of Alberta artists, musicians, poets and storytellers will be featured at the festival, as well as ranchers, rig workers, etc. In the past, the 40-year-old festival has featured locations such as Appalachia and the Silk Road region of Asia.
The oil industry was not a factor in the decision to showcase Alberta, according to festival director Becky Haberacker. Originally, the Smithsonian intended to exhibit Canadian culture in general, but ultimately decided it would be far too broad. She says the Alberta government approached them with the suggestion.
"We have never done a program on Canada or one of its provinces before. In 2005, Alberta had celebrated its centennial, and the Alberta office approached the centre," Haberacker says. "We understand there are people who have differing opinions, and we invited people down to express those opinions. This is not, for us, a platform on energy. We’re looking at how these folks drive their trucks."
The oil industry is a major part of Alberta’s identity, and to overlook it would be a disservice to the province, Haberacker says. While tourists from all over the world will attend the festival, the audience will also include top government officials and industry representatives.
Folklife runs alongside Premier Ralph Klein’s Alberta in D.C Week, a massive lobbying campaign to promote American investment in the oilsands. Klein met with vice-president Dick Cheney June 28, encouraging America to turn its eyes north in its search for a stable source of oil.
The Alberta government says the two events, while beneficial to one another, are properly separated.
"We have been building Alberta in D.C Week in Washington, and the two springboard off of each other," says Garnet Lewis, spokesperson for Alberta Community Development. "Energy is an important part of who we are as Albertans. There are many displays on our culture, our cuisine, all aspects of Alberta life."
Lewis points out that the province’s alternative energy programs, such as the University of Calgary’s solar power program, and other environmental initiatives are being showcased as well.
But the province’s promotional efforts for the oil and gas industry are undermining the cultural nature of Folklife, critics say.
"More than 120 Albertans, including singer-songwriters such as Ian Tyson, Sid Marty and Maria Dunn, will be featured during the festival. Sadly, Alberta’s wild spaces and dramatic landscapes — the inspiration for much of their work — will not receive equal billing," says Richard Secord, president of the Alberta Wilderness Foundation, in a letter to the Smithsonian.
The AWA says the Alberta government is dishonestly painting the province as a champion of the environment to the American audience, a position contrary to a report card released by the Sierra Club of Canada in which Alberta was ranked the least environmentally responsible province in Canada.
"I think that to go down there at a time when Americans are becoming quite sensitive to environmental issues and to gloss over the fact that what is happening in Alberta is coming at a great environmental and social cost, is unacceptable," says AWA board member Vivian Pharis.
The Natural Resources Defense Council, a prominent American environmental organization, is joining the AWA and Pembina in their efforts to raise awareness about the environmental cost of oilsands development. The NRDC is handing out press packages and pamphlets at Folklife.
Along with the Pembina Institute, the NRDC will hold a panel discussion on the environment this week. Folklife runs from June 30 to July 4 and July 7 to 11. |
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