ANWR

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Senate narrowly approved opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to energy exploration, handing a victory to the White House, which has long advocated oil drilling in the preserve. story here

"If you put together a video of ANWR, you would see nothing but snow and rock. It is no place anybody's ever going to go. The wildlife that lives there wishes it didn't, but it's too stupid to figure out how to move anywhere. They don't have moving vans sent to their places like people in Philadelphia do when they want to get out of someplace. This is absolutely absurd."

--Rush Limbaugh, 3/16/05

The above quote made by Rush Limbaugh prompted me to write this entry. The issue over Arctic drilling is a very polarizing issue in the United States that it demands closer examination on everyone's part. Although much of what I know about the facts and figures regarding drilling comes from popular media (unfortunately), I'm tempted to do some research on my own to get to the bottom of the story. I'm sort of tired of the politics of the situation and it's unfortunate that most people's knowledge of this issue comes from popular media and biased pundits.

This is one of those issues that needs to be taken up not from an outside perspective but with a conscious realization that how we act now will influence the world we live in tomorrow. It saddens me that many people are either casual or completely ignorant about arctic drilling and what it means. Aside from the environmental effects in the immediate area of ANWR, we need to consider why this is an issue in the first place. The United States is far too dependent on oil and we are only recently considering and utilizing alternative energy sources. I sincerely believe that we will make the changes needed before it's completely too late, but I also feel that too much damage will be done before people realize that need. In other words, this country will change when we have to. When the arctic refuge is no longer producing enough oil to be profitable, where will we be? We need to take a careful look at the facts that we have now and make a concerted effort to think about the future. This means blocking out the conservatives in denial and the environmental wackos as well, and become aware ourselves. Only then can we make real progress.