Musician Corb Lund on Alberta coal mines: ‘they’re going to ruin our ground water’ 

Much ink has been spilled over research from the University of Alberta that asked focus groups to “draw an Albertan.” Overwhelmingly, participants drew a man — a farmer or cowboy standing outside, near mountains or foothills or fields.

They may as well have been drawing Corb Lund. 

The Juno Award-winning country artist often wears a wide-brim cowboy hat and hails from a rodeo family in the foothills — but he is anything but a stereotypical Albertan, especially when it comes to his politics. His anti-partisan and complicated views afford him an everyman’s edge when he wades into the issues facing the province’s environment.

And wade in he has, particularly when it comes to coal mining on the eastern slopes of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains.

“I don’t know how many times Albertans have to fight these foreign coal companies and how many times we have to tell them no,” he has said, labelling governments and coal corporations as “crooked.”

Lund’s family ranch is just north of the 49th parallel, a landscape he rode “every inch” of on horseback with his grandfather. The values of stewardship and conservation he learned there have made him into a fierce advocate for protecting grasslands, rivers and mountains. He employs his country twang and singing about everything from the degradation of wildlife habitat to … stuck trucks.

Here, Lund answers The Narwhal’s new Moose Questionnaire, which digs into our connection to the natural world. 

This interview is edited and condensed for clarity — all opinions are the subject’s own.

What’s the most awe-inspiring natural sight you’ve witnessed between the Pacific, Atlantic, 49th parallel and Hudson Bay, i.e. Canada?

I might be a little biased, but the Rockies, for sure.

What’s the most awe-inspiring natural sight you’ve witnessed outside of Canada?

The Australian outback is pretty incredible in its own bleak way. That’s some pretty cool, desolate country.

Think of three iconic Canadian animals. Choose one each to Kiss, Marry and Kill. 

Kiss: Porcupine.

Marry: Cow Elk.

Kill: The ‘iconic-in-its-absence-in-Alberta’ rat. Ick.

Name a person or group doing something meaningful for the environment that everyone should know about.

I’ve been working with some pretty impressive people that are neck deep in the fight against coal mining developments in the eastern slopes of Alberta’s Rockies, currently the Grassy Mountain project near Crowsnest Pass. David Luff, formerly of Premier Lougheed’s staff. Mandy Olsgard, a toxicologist formerly with the Alberta Energy Regulator. Katie Morrison with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. Laura Laing, John Smith and the Blades family, generational ranchers who are pushing back against having their land and water ruined by foreign coal speculators.

Tell us about a time you changed your mind about something, environmental or otherwise.

I changed my mind about the competence of our politicians that make crucial decisions about our water supply after meetings with many of them, from all sides. I don’t ‘trust the system’ about anything anymore, regardless of party. Tribalism has killed critical thinking.

Tell us about a time you tried to change someone else’s mind about something, environmental or otherwise.

I’ve spent three years trying to change our provincial government’s minds about open pit coal mines in the slopes of our Rockies, with little or no success. They’re going to ruin our ground water for a few hundred short term jobs, just like in the Elk Valley, across the line in B.C.

Yes, you have to choose: Rocky Mountains or Great Lakes?

Rockies.

If you could dip a toe off Canada’s coastline, which ocean would it be in?

I’ve done all three. Up north was coldest.

What’s the farthest north you’ve ever been and what did you do there?

I’ve played music in Inuvik. My dad was a vet and has been farther north than that overseeing the Inuit muskox harvest.

If you could ask one person, alive or dead, about their thoughts on climate change, who would it be?

I’m very concerned about the world’s environmental focus being solely on climate change. I wish that one issue didn’t take up ALL the oxygen in public ecological discussions. 

No one ever asks about the terrible conditions of the oceans, global pollution, loss of biodiversity, eradication of native grasslands. Why is climate change the only issue anyone brings up? The singular focus around this concerns me. 

With eight or nine billion of us on the planet, the sheer scale of our impact has us facing many, many crucial ecological challenges.

Yes, you have to choose: smoked salmon or maple syrup?

Grass-fed Alberta beefsteak.

Who, in your life, has had the greatest impact on your connection to nature?

Probably my maternal grandfather, Eddie Ivins. We rode every inch of our family ranch when I was a kid and he impressed upon me the importance of maintaining the native grasslands. He was obsessed with his grass health. Ranchers are underrated as conservationists.

Enjoying the Moose Questionnaire? We’re going to ask as many artists, athletes, politicians and cultural personalities as we can to answer it, so let us know if you have suggestions.