\u201cHotspot\u201d depicts a genomic experiment inoculating wetland plant seedlings (in the enlarged petri dish on the left) with microbe communities naturally found in the Athabasca Oilsands area. These microbes have proven to degrade the strongest, most toxic \u201cdiamonoid\u201d naphthenic acids (NA\u2019s) in tailings pond water, and are being identified according to their genes. In the middle of the painting, a natural \u201cHotspot\u201d of wetland microbe communities effectively break down the toxic NA \u201cdiamonoids\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other \u201cHotspots\u201d are the questions about commercial integrity, motives, and opportunities in and outside the project this painting brings forth. When contemplating the pile of diamonds – mining, wealth, treasure, marriage, contracts, and partnerships came to the artist’s mind. When natural scientists discover or create microbe communities and plant combinations to make constructed treatment wetlands efficient (or \u201chot\u201d) enough to clean tailings pond water, could \u201cmining\u201d specific place-based microbes be internationally lucrative? Would it support the expansion of more oil sand extraction into Saskatchewan, and the world, once the tailings water can be cleaned? Who owns the microbes? Who are the financial partners? Where will the wealth go\u2026to remediate the environment and affected community employment and health security? Or to who patents the technology? Or to the oil industry? What is the financial incentive to use passive constructed treatment wetlands in place of an alternative water treatment system?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cHotspot\u201d depicts a genomic experiment inoculating wetland plant seedlings (in the enlarged petri dish on the left) with microbe communities naturally found in the Athabasca Oilsands area. These microbes have<\/p>\n