What it’s about
EthicalOil.org encourages people, businesses and governments to choose Ethical Oil from Canada, its oil sands and other liberal democracies. Unlike Conflict Oil from some of the world’s most politically oppressive and environmentally reckless regimes, Ethical Oil is the “Fair Trade” choice in oil.
Countries that produce Ethical Oil protect the rights of women, workers, indigenous peoples and other minorities including gays and lesbians. Conflict Oil regimes, by contrast, oppress their citizens and operate in secret with no accountability to voters, the press or independent judiciaries.
Some Conflict Oil regimes even support terrorism.
As the world still requires growing amounts of oil, people, businesses and governments need to make a choice: do we continue to buy Conflict Oil from politically oppressive and environmentally reckless regimes or do we purchase Ethical Oil that is discovered, produced and transported responsibly?
Ethical oil. It’s a choice we have to make.
How it started
EthicalOil.org began as a blog created by Alykhan Velshi to promote the ideas in Ezra Levant’s bestselling book Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oil Sands.
The blog, in addition to rebutting inaccurate and unfair criticisms of the oilsands, also sought to engage its readers: inviting them to write letters to their local newspapers, call talk radio stations and suggest ideas for Access to Information requests to expose the network of anti-oilsands lobbyists who meet regularly with senior Environment Canada officials.
Within a month, based on the generosity of its readers, EthicalOil.org has become an online community that empowers people to become grassroots community activists on the front-lines of the campaign for ethical oil.
How we are funded
Unlike most anti-oilsands organizations, EthicalOil.org does not accept any money from foreign donors like Greenpeace International, the U.S. Tides Foundation or the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We are 100% Canadian.
We are a registered non-profit NGO and do not accept money from any government agency. We are non-partisan and believe that the Canadian values reflected in Ethical Oil appeal to people from all walks of life and across the political spectrum.
We do accept donations from Canadian individuals and companies, including those working to produce ethical oil. Since launching our website in July, hundreds of Canadians from all walks of life have donated through our PayPal button. The median size of our donations to date is $38. Even one dollar helps to get the word out. We believe that by using our blog, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube we can spread the word about Ethical Oil even without the money and professional staff that the anti-oilsands activists have at their disposal.
Please donate online or send cheques to P.O. Box 1047, 31 Adelaide Street East, Toronto, ON M5C 2K4.
