Zoey Rich

10th Grade Humanities

Energy Justice Monologue

Where Has Earth Gone

With the corruption of governmental power and seemingly deceiving greed;

Native land is America's next “gold mine.” Chaco Canyon is no exception. In the
face of ongoing battles. The Bureau of Land Management has leased 91% of Chaco
Canyon to oil producing companies that have already constructed 40,000 oil and
gas wells, indigenous people can only hope they can cling to the 9% of the
remaining land they have left. Preservation means a lot to many people. Rose, a
indigenous elder speaks to the preservation of the land, “We were always told that
it is mother nature, it’s your mother, the earth is your mother. You know how a
human has blood? When they come to draw your blood it hurts, even when they
do the pricking of fingers to take out the blood, it hurts. Just think about how the
earth suffers. It’s like they’re drawing blood when they take the oil.”

As destructive as it is to our mother Earth, what about the people? As much

as Earth is gasping for a clean breath, so are many people. Asthma is not a genetic
disease, it’s developed by living in an unhealthy climate. Research shows 10 people
die of asthma in the US everyday, and within the US, 26 million adults are
diagnosed with asthma (“Asthma Facts | AAFA.org”). We live in an area designated
as an energy sacrifice zone, meaning the land around us is heavily damaged from
the release of methane which has polluted our water, damaged our soil, and has
permanently changed the ecosystem around us. It’s enraging to know most people
don’t live in energy sacrifice zones, and imagine how much worse it will be with all
the planned extraction in Chaco Canyon.

In the case study of Chaco Canyon, in the article “Greater Chaco Region
Wins Reprieve From Fracking” written by Erika Brown, Brown states “Well site
construction is irreversible in this arid, unreclaimable landscape. Runoff from well
sites pollutes the surface water, fracking underground can contaminate
groundwater, and waste emissions of natural gas increase climate change and
cause cancers and asthma.”

In order to solve this crisis, we will need to apply John Rawls theory of
justice rooted in equality to apply human rights to all the residents in the Chaco.
Another lense to use in order to solve this issue is applying some of the Principles
of Environmental Justice. In 1991 a group of citizens in Washington DC came
together at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit
and created the 17 principles of Environmental Justice. Principal 9 “protects the
right of victims of environmental injustice to receive full compensation and
reparations for damages as well as quality health care.” I believe this is the path we
should lean towards since the damage done is irreversible and we should
acknowledge the harm done to the victims. There has been more than enough
damage, and we need to prevent any more oil wells from being constructed; the
Earth has enough punctures in it’s skin and now it’s time to heal.
 Works Cited

“Asthma Facts | AAFA.org.” Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America,

https://aafa.org/asthma/asthma-facts/. Accessed 7 May 2023.

“Principles of Environmental Justice.” EJnet.org, 6 April 1996,

https://www.ejnet.org/ej/principles.html. Accessed 7 May 2023.

Searls, Doc. “Reducing Oil and Gas Exploitation in the San Juan Basin.” Western

Environmental Law Center,

https://westernlaw.org/safeguarding-climate/reforming-oil-gas-operations

/reducing-oil-and-gas-exploitation-in-the-san-juan-basin/. Accessed 7 May

2023.