I could hardly believe my eyes looking out the window of the small plane flying me from Fort McMurray to Fort Chipewyan in northern Alberta. The route parallels the Athabasca River running north above the boreal forest.
But there is as much brown as green here; the land is covered in a patchwork of torn-up ground where bitumen is being mined by gigantic excavators. From 4,500 feet above all you can see is desolation in every direction.
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