Issue 2013: Going Green

by Asia Williams

I believe that it is obvious that our abuse of the environment and its natural resources is a definite priority on the list of problems we face in 2013. From little things like forgetting to unplug your hair dryer after use (it doesn’t matter if it is turned off; if it’s still plugged in you are in fact still wasting electricity) to discarding and littering a bottle of water, 3 feet on the ground from a convenient recycling bin, we have become oblivious and unaware the of how important the environment is to us and therefore how many precautions we need to take in order to keep the privilege of using it.

One of the ways we naturally maltreat the environment is our unhealthy dependency on oil. We are literally the “oil economy” and go through critical lengths to secure our status as our economy doesn’t know how to properly function in its absence. Oil is literally one of the most important factors that ensures our economic health but because we are so used to having it around (and tons of it) we tend to go through supplies carelessly thinking that we can never run out. In reality we are low in oil and are so desperate for it that we put ourselves in position where we’re not only going to run out sooner or later but we feel that it is ok to start randomly drilling where we are not permitted or where it’s not safe.

New oil is harder to find, takes longer to develop and requires a lot more capital. Companies like Shell Oil on the other hand continue to push their limits and drill for oil in places like the Artic which has already lost 75% of its ice by volume since the National Snow and Ice Data Center started recording this info back in 1979. Reduced Arctic sea connects to a warmer planet and thus a change in climate patterns and people tend to push aside such thoughts, ignoring them because we evidently we don’t see how much this effects not only us but our entire world. We are at risks because people don’t see the long term effects of the over use of oil because in many ways it will be a while till it has an impact on us individually and because of that gap of time we think it’s ok and just not that serious enough that we can’t just wait till another time to deal with it. But we can’t keep pushing this issue back.

When is enough going to be enough? I know I can’t just simply ask people to throw their beliefs, routines and ways of daily living out the window but we need to start somewhere and make some kind of commitment to actually acknowledging that we things are getting worse. We may become the largest oil producer in 2013, the Arctic sea ice reached its lowest level in recorded history and Shell plans to give drilling another go this year.