I am a feminist and I am an environmentalist. I don’t really appreciate being asked to compromise one to support the other.

Yet, this is what the campaign “Ethical Oil” is asking me to do in this new ad.

The message they’re passing is simple enough (if you support women’s rights, you must not buy anything from Saudi Arabia, therefore you should demand oil from Canada instead), which is why we should be weary of it.

First, increasing production from Canada’s tar sands is not going to reduce demand from Saudi Arabia’s oil fields. What is going to reduce demand is, amazingly enough – to reduce demand:  put in place strong standards for fuel efficiency, improve public transport and facilitate alternative means of ...