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Bill Nye Calls Alberta Oilsands 'Depressive'

"From an environmental point of view locally, it's astonishing and overwhelming."
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Jun Sato via Getty Images
TOKYO, JAPAN - AUGUST 06: Scientist/educator Bill Nye attends 'The Science Guy: Science Can Save The World!' at National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation on August 6, 2015 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Jun Sato/Getty Images)

Bill Nye (yes, The Science Guy) went on an aerial tour of the Alberta oilsands, and has nothing good to say about what he saw.

In an interview with APTN's Brandi Morin, the television show host described the experience as "depressive."

According to APTN, Nye took an aerial tour of mining areas in northern Alberta as part of a climate change documentary he is working on, called "Bill Nye's Global Meltdown."

"Producing all this oil that's producing all this carbon dioxide, that's not good from a global stand point," he said.

"And from an environmental point of view locally, it's astonishing and overwhelming."

Nye also paid a visit to the Fort McKay First Nation Monday, to speak with the community about their relationship with the energy industry.

“I think anybody would say that First Nations have rights that have been abridged or catastrophically curtailed,” Nye told APTN.

He pointed to the upcoming federal election, saying the future of the environment will be in the hands of whoever Canada elects as its next leader.

"Everybody says they feel like the tipping point's been reached. Everyone we speak with, where enough is enough kind of thing. But then you have people that are in denial of climate change, who justify all of this extraordinary exploitation to the environment," he said. "It's amazing the scale of it, is just very hard to believe and very troubling."

Nye has long been vocal about the need for climate change discourse. In an interview with VICE last year, he spoke about the influence of the energy industry on the Canadian government.

"[Prime Minister] Stephen Harper is a controversial guy in the science community because [of] the policies, especially in Western Canada, with regard to the production— that's the verb they use, "producing," but you're taking old earth and burning it — of tar sands, oil shale... Is there tar shale? Is there sand goo? Whatever," he said.

Nye is the lastest in a list of celebrities to visit the oilsands. In recent years, Leonardo DiCaprio, Neil Young and Desmond Tutu have all voiced their concerns about Canada's fossil fuel industry.

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ALSO ON HUFFPOST:

Celebrities Who've Visited The Alberta Oilsands
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio(01 of22)
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Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was in Fort McMurray this week researching for a documentary about the oil sands and climate change. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
(02 of22)
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DiCaprio is the voice behind a four-part series that focuses on climate change challenges and solutions.The first part, "Carbon," explores how governments worldwide are putting a price on carbon through carbon trading or carbon taxes. (credit:Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Singer Neil Young(03 of22)
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The singer cause quite a stir when his visited the oilsands earlier this year, survey developments by air. He compared what he saw with the disaster left by the Hiroshima atomic bomb. (credit:Didier Baverel via Getty Images)
(04 of22)
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He went on to slam the Harper government, saying: "Canada is trading integrity for money. That's what's happening under the current leadership in Canada, which is a very poor imitation of the George Bush administration in the United States and is lagging behind on the world stage. It's an embarrassment to any Canadians." (credit:Richard Lautens via Getty Images)
Archbishop Desmond Tutu(05 of22)
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The human rights leader visited the oilsands in May of this year. After a Suncor-sponsored flyover of some of the developments, Tutu called the area "filth." (credit:Invision for Starkey Hearing Foundation)
(06 of22)
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"The fact that this filth is being created now, when the link between carbon emissions and global warming is so obvious, reflects negligence and greed," Tutu told more than 200 rapt attendees at a conference on oilsands development and treaty rights in Fort McMurray. "Oilsands development not only devastates our shared climate, it is also stripping away the rights of First Nations and affected communities to protect their children, land and water from being poisoned." (credit:Zak Hussein/PA Wire)
Director James Cameron(07 of22)
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The Canadian director, director of the pro-environment film Avatar and many other blockbuster movies, visited the oilsands in 2010, as well as visiting with then-Premier Ed Stelmach. He was not vocally against the oilsands, but said “it will be a curse if it’s not managed properly.” (credit:Scott Roth/Invision/AP)
(08 of22)
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“It can also be a great gift to Canada and to Alberta. I’m pragmatic enough to understand the powerful economic forces that are driving this development.” (credit:AP)
Actress Neve Campbell(09 of22)
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Campbell toured the oilsands in 2008, and said she was "horrified by the pace and scale of development in the tar sands, and the weak response by our federal and provincial governments,” (credit:Getty Images)
(10 of22)
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Campbell also backed Neil Young's fight to get major oil companies to respect Canadian First Nation treaties, by signing a letter of support for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. (credit:Todd Williamson/Invision/AP)
Robert Redford(11 of22)
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Although he didn't techincally visit the Alberta oilsands, U.S. actor Robert Redford spoke out in a video last year, calling Alberta's oil "the dirtiest oil on the planet." (credit:Michael Tullberg via Getty Images)
Robert Redford(12 of22)
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“Developing the Canadian tarsands is destroying our great northern forest at a terrifying rate. It is producing enough carbon pollution to wreak havoc with our climate for decades to come. And the pipelines that carry this toxic tarsands fuel are a direct threat to our own drinking water supplies.” (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Darryl Hannah(13 of22)
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U.S. actor Darryl Hannah has also been a vocal opponent of the Alberta oilsands and has protested against various pipelines. She has even been arrested for blocking the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. (credit:Michael Buckner via Getty Images)
(14 of22)
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She has called Alberta's oilsands an "atrocious environmental travesty." (credit:Yui Mok/PA Archive)
Singer Diana Krall(15 of22)
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Diana Krall was the second act on Neil Young's Honour the Treaties tour. (credit:AP)
Fort McMurray, a.k.a. 'Oilsands City'(16 of22)
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(credit:Creative Commons: Tallgirl)
Stunning Population Growth(17 of22)
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Fort McMurray, Alberta, has seen its population grow from 926 in 1951, to more than 60,000 today -- a growth rate of 70,000 per cent over 60 years. The city grew by 14,000 people, or 29 per cent, in just the 2006 to 2011 period.Source: StatsCan (credit:HP)
Far More Men Than Women(18 of22)
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Whereas in Alberta in general there are approximately 99 to 104 men for every 100 women, in Fort McMurray, where male-dominated oil jobs dominate, that ratio is skewed well towards men. There are 110 to 140 men for every 100 women in Fort McMurray, depending on the neighbourhood.Source: Kevin CorreiaThis caption has been corrected from an earlier version. (credit:Alamy)
Arm And A Leg For Housing(19 of22)
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The average price of a two-bedroom apartment in April, 2011, was $2,152 -- comparable to major Canadian cities like Toronto and Vancouver. For those rates to be affordable, you'd need to earn at least $80,000 per year. But given that oil workers can earn as much as $120,000, that is, actually, affordable by Fort McMurray standards.Source: Wood Buffalo Regional Municipality (credit:CP / Globe and Mail)
Third Largest Oil Reserves In The World(20 of22)
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Fort McMurray sits at the centre of what is now recognized as the third-largest proven supply of oil in the world. Alberta has 170.8 billion barrels of oil in the ground, about 12 per cent of the world's total. By comparison, Saudi Arabia has 260 billion barrels, and Venezuela 211 billion. The oil sands' share of that total continues to grow, and with it, Fort McMurray's importance to the industry. The city is expected to quadruple in size, to about 231,000, within 20 years.Source: Government of Alberta (credit:CP)
Giant Job Machine(21 of22)
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There are 140,000 people employed in Alberta's oil and gas extraction industry -- a very large number, considering the province's total population of 3.6 million. In all, energy counts for 23.4 per cent of Alberta's economy.Source: Government of Alberta (credit:CP)
Now That's Cold(22 of22)
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Classified as a sub-Arctic zone, Fort McMurray is bitingly cold, even by Canadians' standards. The average night-time low in January is minus-24 Celsius, or minus-11 Fahrenheit, though the average daytime high in July does reach a decent 23 Celsius (73 Fahrenheit).Source: The Weather Network (credit:CP/Globe and Mail)
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