Drilling Alaska America Needs to Adopt Conservation...

Drilling Alaska I recently read an article in Scientific American (May 2001) titled â€Å"the arctic oil wildlife refuge.† The article addresses the issue of whether or not science has the ability to clarify the potential economic benefits and the ecological risks of drilling into the nation’s last great coastal wilderness preserve. What I began to wonder after reading the article is, if we humans should continue our scientific and technological petroleum endeavors even though we are causing irreversible harm to our earth. My feeling is that we should not drill in Alaska’s Arctic. In the early twentieth century, science and technology brought the automobile. In less than one hundred years, humans especially Americans have grown†¦show more content†¦Can the most high-tech, compact, thoroughly monitored development still pose an unacceptable risk to the wilderness? In a situation such as this where the natural environment is at a serious risk and the public and decision makers are in a dispute, we must all turn to trained scientists in order to more precisely determine what is at risk and which outcome will serve all parties the best. In the case of the Arctic over the past twenty-five years, biologists have been studying and have quantified how underground petroleum activities disturb the life on the surface. For the past thirty-years, petroleum geologists have worked to create less destructive methods of locating and removing oil. Typically people think of science and technology working together to better our lives. In the Arctic situation it is more a case of science versus technology. These two groups of scientists, biologists and geologists, have been pitted against one another. It is difficult to determine who to believe and in that decision, it depends on what one feels to be more important: nature or need. What we must also consider is who the funding for the studies is coming from. Who funds scientific studies is a critical point and one worth taking a look at. Whoever is providing the money for studies has a vested interest in what the final outcome will be. Skewed science is looked down upon by the professional scientific communityShow MoreRelatedBp Sustainability Essay28986 Words   |  116 Pagesresponsibility to everyone affected by what we do and how we do it – not just in the Gulf of Mexico, but wherever we operate. And not just this year, but every year. In this Sustainability Review, we look at what that sense of responsibility means in practice. We discuss how the accident and oil spill are shaping how we do business, and the changes we are making to our portfolio and organization. Our website plays an integral part in our sustainability reporting, covering a wider set of issues and reportingRead MoreMineral Resources18511 Words   |  75 PagesEffects of modern agriculture, Fertilizer/ pesticide problems, Water logging and salinity e. Ener gy Resources: Increasing energy needs, Renewable/ non renewable, Use of Alternate energy sources, Case studies f. Land resources: Land as a resource, land degradation, man-induced land-slides, soil erosion and desertification. 35 48 2.3 ROLE OF AN INDIVIDUAL IN CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES 2.4 EQUITABLE USE OF RESOURCES FOR SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLES 50 51 Natural Resources 15 Chapter2.p65 15 Read MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesTiffany Ruby Patterson, Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life Lisa M. Fine, The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. Van Gosse and Richard Moser, eds., The World the Sixties Made: Politics and Culture in Recent America Joanne Meyerowitz, ed., History and September 11th John McMillian and Paul Buhle, eds., The New Left Revisited David M. Scobey, Empire City: The Making and Meaning of the New York City Landscape Gerda Lerner, Fireweed: A Political Autobiography Read MoreProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 PagesEdition Erik W. Larson Oregon State University Clifford F. Gray Oregon State University PROJECT MANAGEMENT: THE MANAGERIAL PROCESS Published by McGraw-Hill/Irwin, a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY, 10020. Copyright  © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior