Throughout my search for articles on the subject of drilling for oil in Alaska, I have found many that are fully supporting the drilling. So instead of using an article written by environmentalists, I am going to explain where most of politicians and other Americans are getting their argument wrong. It is common knowledge America is trying to lessen its dependence for oil in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other coutries we import oil from. So, in order to do that, we have searched our own country for oil and found places such as Alaska's 19 million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, also known as ANWR. It is said that America's most significant and "extremely promising" oil and gas reserves are found in a 2,000 acre region of ANWR. Pro-drillers argue that 2,000 out of 19 million acres is nearly nothing, and the section they will be drilling is located in a "barren wasteland" in the coastal plains. Well, this raises the question in my mind: who says that the oil exploration will stop within that 2,000-acred boundary? No no, people. It will not stop there, and if for one second you think it will, you're sadly mistaken. The search for more fossil fuels will only spread out into more of ANWR. They also claim that because the space the drilling would occupy is so small compared to the remainder of ANWR, the wildlife would not be affected or harmed. Well, if those boundaries are not kept, who is to say that wildlife will have to change migratory patterns and feeding habits and make certain adaptations. What pro-drillers are not doing is listening to themselves. They have the greedy mindsets of many in the world today, but especially the American people who are built on consumption of goods and more fossil fuels. Why are we spending all this time bickering and all the money into figuring out how much profit we'd make on the oil reserves in ANWR, and why not instead put all that effort and money into alternative energy? Because alternative energy is in fact the only answer to our oil and gas addiction. By allowing ANWR to be drilled, we are only encouraging even more drilling and consumption of fossil fuels! We are only "pouring fuel onto an already roaring fire" so to speak. We are getting no closer to finding alternatives, no closer to finding solutions for our Global Warming crisis.. which most pro-drillers either think is a joke or don't care. Also, these creatures that inhabit the ANWR region are already being highly threatened due to climate change, which in and of itself is being sped up by humans whose consumption of fossil fuels increase and leave a larger carbon footprint. The answer to this isn't "Just keep drilling, drilling, drilling. What do we do, we drill." The answer is to stop being so greedy and taking from the environment, but to protect it and try to give back for once. Create energy-efficient technology, come up with ways to make alternative energy more accessible to the majority of people in the most consuming countries, and conserve the resources we already do have. Do not destroy the last bit of pristine wilderness we still have left in our own country, because this wildlife refuge is a symbol of hope. This refuge is one of the last places in the country of the United States that has been left untouched by man.
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=165
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