Taub is a fourth-year Italian and art history student organizing
for Save America’s Arctic campaigns.
By Lindsay Taub
What is the next election about to you? Vice President Gore says
it is about “prosperity.” Governor Bush says it is
about “change.” While I measure the candidates
according to their positions on all of the issues, there is one
issue in particular that stresses me: the environment.
I can rationalize with myself that no matter who becomes
president we will be “OK.” There may be changes in
social security, healthcare and education, and the American people
will deal with it, since we have no other choice. Yet, the potency
of that “OK” is on the balance. What difference do the
other changes for our “well-being” mean, if our future
generations’ environment is threatened?
Have you noticed the increase in awareness, or at least the
attempt to keep the public aware of the issues at hand? Just
recently there was a story on the news about how air pollution in
and around the Los Angeles area is affecting our health, especially
children’s. There is a dramatic increase of asthma rates for
children. A scary consequence and only one of the many problems our
environment faces.
There is an area on the coastal plain of Alaska, the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge, which has been the subject of debate for
quite a while now. It is one of America’s last pristine
wilderness areas consisting of nearly 20 million acres of arctic
and subarctic habitats. In the circumpolar north, the Refuge is
home to a great variety of plant and animal life, including 180
bird species from four continents, polar and grizzly bears, musk
oxen, and thousands more.
It is the home for more than 130,000 Porcupine Caribou, a herd
that migrates through the Refuge every year, and is such a
spectacle of nature’s beauty that is has been called
“America’s Serengeti.” Furthermore, it is one of
the last complete natural ecosystems on the planet.
This area is threatened by the prospect of oil drilling. We hear
the politicians discussing the so-called “energy
crisis” in which the country is mired because of our
dependency on imported oil from the Middle East. This is a problem,
I will not argue with that. But it will remain a problem until we
find alternative sources of energy.
While there is a complacency among older adults ““ they
seem to think that the world has an endless supply of natural
resources ““ we as students and young people need to step up
and make Washington realize that we are the ones who will have to
deal with the energy crisis. It is up to us to see that the
necessary changes start now.
Yes, there is oil in the Refuge. Studies have shown it would
provide approximately 6 to 20 months’ worth of oil for the
U.S., dropping gasoline prices during this time. But we would not
see the results for 10 years, and more importantly, this is only a
temporary solution that in the process would destroy the
Refuge.
There is a native tribe that lives there called the
Gwich’in Nation. Their name literally means “people of
the caribou.” Their entire existence depends on the caribou,
for food, shelter, clothing and other basic needs. By polluting and
industrializing the Refuge, the caribou are threatened, and in
turn, the Gwich’in Nation.
What we need to understand is that this area and these people
are a part of our cultural heritage and it is not worth ruining the
wilderness for the sake of a temporary solution to the energy
crisis. It needs to be protected.
Prudhoe Bay, Ala., is right next to the Refuge, and look what
happened there. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was 11 years ago and the
area has still not fully recovered. Some people claim oil drilling
can be safe and clean. That is a complete fallacy ““ and those
same people hire lobbyists to go to Washington and lobby against
environmental protection laws. This money should instead be used
for research to find alternatives.
We have heard this issue during the debates in the presidential
campaigns. And we know who would open it up for drilling and who
would not. But why wait until the next president decides what to
do? President Clinton wants to leave office with a legacy. He
already has one in the personal department. How about the
environmental department?
Help us in supporting this area by coming to the CALPIRG table
on Bruin Walk Monday and Tuesday to sign a postcard that urges
Clinton to declare this area a National Monument before he leaves
office, and be a part of this historic moment.