Because Vancouver is regularly voted as one of the world’s most liveable cities it's hard for Vancouverites to see the risks associated with shipping oil. So Dogwood Initiative wanted to help British Columbians visualize a disaster on one of their most-beloved local beaches.

No wildlife were harmed in the making of the stunt, which used a virtual reality headset hidden inside an old­-fashioned set of coin-­operated sightseeing binoculars to depict the aftermath of an oil spill.

For a few days, all Vancouverites could see the experience for themselves and a film was produced and shared via Dogwood’s social channels.

Unsuspecting viewers were immersed in an animated 3D depiction of a scenario, replacing the usual picturesque scenery with a dying orca whale, bitumen­-soaked sand, black smoke billowing into the sky from flaming pools of oil, and spill vessels attempting to contain approximately 500 metric tonnes of crude leaking from a crippled tanker.

The virtual reality scene was an enhanced replica of the immediate surroundings rendered in real-time using software typically used for gaming called Unity 3D. The experience was delivered using a Rift DK2 headset developed by a company called Oculus VR which Facebook recently bought for a cool $2 billion.

The charismatic Mayor of Vancouver, as well as other local politicians and policy makers, came down, surveyed the scene and shared their discontent of the virtual scene. The installation gave them the opportunity to inspire Vancouver voters to hit the polls and have their voices heard on the issue.

The installation also earned national attention, and beyond, by being featured on broadcast news, the Huffington Post, Fast Company, Reddit, not to mention blogs from around the world as well as chatter on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

So much so, that #NoTankers, the hashtag used by Dogwood Initiative and for this stunt, also trended on Twitter during the installation.

The No Tankers Campaign garnered an estimated 1.5 million impressions through online publications, Facebook, and Twitter