Local lush employees participate in nation-wide oil protest

Employees at a soap and cosmetic store in Thunder Bay want the Alberta oil sands to stop, although participants of the couldn’t offer alternative to the billion-dollar industry.

Employees of Lush Cosmetics across North America led protests against the Alberta oil sands Wednesday. Employees at the Lush Intercity Shopping Centre handed out information pamphlets and post cards addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Employees of the cosmetics retailer shouted at shoppers as they passed by to get their attention.

Employees said Intercity required them to hand out the pamphlets from inside their store. One employee wore what appeared to be a barrel, which was meant to illustrate the point that Canada is scraping at the bottom of the barrel to get at every possible oil reserve in this country.

Megan Quinn, 18, said she wanted to do something to try to inform people about the oil sands.

"If it takes getting naked in a barrel to stop the oil sands then I guess that’s what it takes," Quinn said. "I found people didn’t really know anything about the oil sands. It is a huge issue in Canada. It’s basically why we aren’t living up to the Kyoto Protocol."

Yolanda Bonnell, senior key at Lush Cosmetics, said the oil sands harm the environment considerably, with plans to dig up the boreal forest to make way for further oil sand development.

"Its been called the most destructive project on Earth," Bonnell said. "The oil sands are violating the Kyoto protocol, violating clean water laws and killing off wild life. It has to be stopped."

The Canadian Oil Sands website states that oil sand investments would generate $1.7 trillion in economic activity.

While not many people stopped and took the pamphlets, Bonnell said people were scared to get involved in protests that aimed to end something as large as the Alberta oil sands.

She added that they hoped to collectively send 700,000 post cards.