Xenophobia Rains: Oilsands and Climate Change

xenophobia rains: Even when they make it to safety, a torrent of prejudice and xenophobia rains down on them, dampening their dreams, according to National Observer. My own journey started as an environmental scientist in Canada, attempting to reclaim land destroyed by oilsands mining; but ended as self-described carbon buster, recognizing the greater need to reclaim our atmosphere by not digging up oilsands. As political storms brew, foundations of people's lives are uprooted and tossed into oblivion. Refugee hurricanes related to climate change are occurring world-wide; small ones may have carried Canadians fleeing forest fires at Fort McMurray; ironically from the centre of the oilsands, where I once worked. Tragically, this hurricane blows them on a journey from Afghanistan all the way to Europe; then after years of desperate swirling, deposits them back home where a peaceful life is even less likely than when they first fled. This particular story of a much larger refugee hurricane originates from the composite voices of young Afghan men hurled onto the shores of Greece, where I met them while volunteering in refugee camps in 2016 and 2017. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.