Something that I would change in the world is projects like the
Willow Project. The Willow Project is a massive and decadeslong oil
drilling venture on Alaska’s North Slope in the National Petroleum Reserve, which is owned by the federal government. The area where the project is planned holds up to 600 million barrels of oil. That oil would take years to reach the market since the project has yet to be constructed. Sadly, the project has been approved by the Biden administration. This would endanger the already vulnerable caribou population. Many people do not believe that this will be a real problem. As they are not directly affected by this. But others, like many native communities relying on caribou, will be threatened. Some do not want to believe that this will, in time, endanger our life, purely because they do not have enough knowledge about the real danger that we are putting our planet in. In addition to concerns about the fast-warming Arctic, groups are also concerned the project could destroy the habitat for native species and alter the migration patterns of animals including caribou that I mentioned before. If Willow produces as much oil over thirty years as expected, the consumption of that oil would release the equivalent of 277 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The ConocoPhillips' Willow Project would create up to a third of the emissions from all coal plants across the country. The ConocoPhillips' Willow Project wouldn't only produce emissions on its own, but the project could also provoke treacherous gas leaks which could spur further environmental issues. Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. These harmful materials are called pollutants. Pollutants can be natural, such as volcanic ash. They can also be created by human activity, such as trash or runoff produced by factories. Pollutants damage the quality of air, water, and land. Pollution stunts economic growth, exacerbates poverty and inequality in both urban and rural areas, and significantly contributes to climate change. Poor people, who cannot afford to protect themselves from the negative impacts of pollution, end up suffering the most. If air pollution is not controlled, by 2030 the air will become so poisonous that it will be necessary to use an oxygen kit to breathe easily. Rising air pollution will also lead to premature aging. Human exposure to air toxins will increase to a great extent if air pollution is not controlled. If the planet stops burning fossil fuels, some of these pollutants will also disappear, taking their small masking effect with them. In the short term, the researchers suggest, global temperatures may rise slightly for a few years after all emissions halt. But it is not too late! We can still do it, we haven't crossed the threshold. We have to agree on very big changes, and we have to do them right now. By 2050, in 30 years, we would have to reduce our CO2 emissions to zero — globally, not just in a developed country, globally.