Lately, there has been some shocking discourse over whether or not the United States government should protect the environment. I assumed the answer would be an impassioned, "Of course we should! The environment is very important! It's where we live!" The actual answer, however, was horrifying.
The current presidential administration has decided to further the Keystone XL pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline. While, yes, these would create jobs and DAPL has been rerouted around the Sioux reservation, the impacts to the environment could be disastrous. Just recently, a pipeline in North Dakota spilled 176,000 gallons of oil, not to mention the BP spill of 2008 and so many others that have happened so recently.
That is unacceptable.
Do we really think that we, as a species, are more important than any other living thing on this earth? Because, let me tell you right now, we're not. Studies have shown that the earth would do so much better without us here. We're ruining this planet. You know all those movies that show people venturing out to other planets to colonize so that the human race can move there? Those are very very close to becoming real. Is that what you want?
Instead, we should opt for renewable clean energy. Those also create jobs and will prevent us from being oil-dependent on other countries.
We are not the most important species on this planet. It's time for us to remember that.
Further reading:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/13/us/pipeline-spill-no...
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-dakota-access...
https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/3e5760c7-8135-3dcc-af...
