With all we know about climate change and what's happening in the Arctic, you'd think our leaders would be marshalling resources to at least slow it down. Instead, industry and governments are eyeing new opportunities to mine Arctic fossil fuels.

Tuesday morning I woke up, opened the paper and saw a full page spread on plans to create massive End Pit Lakes, a process that involved filling the massive, visible from space, open pit mines created by tar sands extraction in Northern Alberta with tailings and water.

EthicalOil.org has a reputation for using just about anything to promote Canada's tar sands. This Monday it was my turn to get 'tarred' as the website's spokesperson Kathryn Marshall declared herself to be on "the very same page" as me. The assertion could not be further from the truth.

In an environment of obscured facts, prejudice, and generalization, the "Ethical Oil" campaign can work because it speaks to values like democracy, good jobs, pride, the rights of women and other things we hold dear.