Lauren 's Reviews > Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands

Beaton manages to capture so many things in this book - it's quite extraordinary.

- Collapse of fisheries and industry in the Canadian Maritime provinces
- Exodus and migration of eastern workers to Ontario and Alberta
- Cultural / linguistic retention even in re-location, finding "your own"
- Student loans and debt
- The burden and expectations of graduating from North American universities
- The allure of "the west"
- Short-term hardship for long-term gains
- The conflicts of working for/with an industry that scars and maims the earth
- The conflicts of working for/with an industry that injures and puts humans at risk
- Camp culture and toxic workplaces
- Isolation and mood shifts
- Gender roles
- Addiction and substance abuse
- Assault and shame
- Mental health

I could keep going. There's a lot to chew on here, and this is one that will stay with me.
Read the postscript too - a little more to the story there.