Who's Idea Was It Anyway? | Dakota Access Pipeline
I am stressed and I am shook about how my future looks in the Environmental Science field. It's not just massive pipelines that are issues, it's the lack of movement towards renewable energy. Most of Europe and many parts of Asia have already implemented many renewable energy methods and their spread of hybrid and fully electric cars has surpassed anything being done in America, and in reality we are falling behind. The rest of the world is looking down at us completely perplexed as to why we are not getting with the times. There are jobs to be made and new industries to begin that will bring in a countless supply of money for the government. The issue isn't if renewable energy will create jobs or boost the economy, the issue lies in change...something the United States seems to have a hard time adapting to and accepting.
My main focus of the day comes from the news I received of President Trump trying to sign actions to advance construction on Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. Now, we'll overlook the questionable actions of the Dakota Access pipeline to originally cross through Bismark, but re-
routing because the citizens of Bismark rejected the plan for their safety, yet deeming it okay to construct just miles upstream from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe's reservation. This sort of problem isn't the first...in the States or in other countries, there is clear prejudice when it comes to the "rich vs poor". This issue can be seen if you simply look at disaster relief after hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in comparison to that of Hurricane Sandy in New York. I digress though, my main concern is the water source for countless states that affects everyone rich or poor. The Missouri River flows into the Mississippi river and a huge hub for agricultural practices and a resource for many states, so if even a "small" oil spill were to happen it would effect every single state down river and contaminate millions of people's water source. Most major cities follow along water ways, including rivers. While this potential oil spill may not be a huge issue for some cities and will be cleaned up in that area as quickly as possible, many small towns will be forgotten and don't have the funds for reoccurring clean ups. Oil spills have a very high recurrence level and for the state or federal government to be pouring money into clean-ups constantly is idiotic. This pipe, while it does create between 8,200-12,000 jobs through construction, will only contribute to up to 40 permanent jobs, which to me is barely anything in the scheme of a country with minimum 243 million working-aged citizens.These pipelines are short-term solutions to make money quickly. The risks and damages out weigh any potential job opportunities, and like I said if we invest in renewable energy thousands of jobs will open up in new sectors. It has been estimated that if we were to switch completely over to 3.4 million jobs would become available not including those of potential companies that would spring up. I really believe the engineers working in petroleum would easily find jobs in renewable energy without fault, and it is highly unlikely for petroleum to suddenly cease being one of our energy sources.
The pipeline has obvious downsides economically, but the damages environmentally may be irreversible. The amount of animal lives that could be damaged from an out-pour of oil reaches birds, land mammals, insects, and all the way down to marine animals in the Gulf of Mexico. The biodiversity of our ecosystem is important for crop production and to keep ourselves in an ecosystem that can support us and our needs. The Mississippi currently isn't doing so well and creating more sediment for the river to transport to the gulf will only cause more issues and more flooding in areas like Louisiana. If the water were to become contaminated upstream, there would be no potable water for drinking or growing crops which can have detrimental consequences since the areas along the river fronts produce a vast majority of crops that are distributed all over the country.
I know this may all seem like doomsday talk, but the health of our environment is something to seriously be considered in order to allow for ourselves and our future generations to be able to live on this planet. Sustainability is not only that of the environment but economics as well, and in order to preserve both for our children and so on we need to work together and have these two aspects fit
well together.
My main focus of the day comes from the news I received of President Trump trying to sign actions to advance construction on Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. Now, we'll overlook the questionable actions of the Dakota Access pipeline to originally cross through Bismark, but re-
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| Map of oil-spills Since 1986 |
The pipeline has obvious downsides economically, but the damages environmentally may be irreversible. The amount of animal lives that could be damaged from an out-pour of oil reaches birds, land mammals, insects, and all the way down to marine animals in the Gulf of Mexico. The biodiversity of our ecosystem is important for crop production and to keep ourselves in an ecosystem that can support us and our needs. The Mississippi currently isn't doing so well and creating more sediment for the river to transport to the gulf will only cause more issues and more flooding in areas like Louisiana. If the water were to become contaminated upstream, there would be no potable water for drinking or growing crops which can have detrimental consequences since the areas along the river fronts produce a vast majority of crops that are distributed all over the country.I know this may all seem like doomsday talk, but the health of our environment is something to seriously be considered in order to allow for ourselves and our future generations to be able to live on this planet. Sustainability is not only that of the environment but economics as well, and in order to preserve both for our children and so on we need to work together and have these two aspects fit
well together.
