ANWR

I can’t say this is a surprise, but I’m really disappointed that the Senate has passed a bill which would authorize oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. Sometimes I wonder what people who are so pro-business are thinking. I mean I can sympathize with the lumber worker who is going to lose his job because some green eco-freak like me wants to protect a forest. However, the individual lumber worker is hardly an effective lobbyist and he is not the driving force behind opening up protected forests. The driving forces are huge business run by the super wealthy. It’s not like they don’t have enough money.

More importantly, the drilling is only a temporary solution and would have significant impacts to the wildlife on one of the few undeveloped places on the continent.

Some people believe that environmentally protective policies hurt businesses. I am not so convinced. I feel that the negative effect on economies is overstated because new businesses and innovations will appear to recover some the losses.

My greatest fear is that by destroying a fragile ecosystem like the ANWR or the Amazon we will eradicate some small but precious species which could have otherwise unlocked a key to human biology. Perhaps some fungus or bacteria in the area could lead us to a cure for cancer, but because we wiped it out it will take another two hundred years to find the cure on our own. That may not be a the most plausible scenario, but once the damage is done to a pristine system, it can never be restored to its original state, so it’s worth it to be very cautious.