The air outside pulsates, angry, saturated with ripples. Early April has brought about hundred-degree weather in my Midwestern hometown, and I wipe away beads of sweat that have crawled down my cheek. By the third day of ‘Heat Advisory: Stay Inside!’, there seems to be nothing to do except wait. 

Our world is sweltering, and we are turning up the heat as fast as we can. The Biden administration recently approved the Willow project, ConocoPhillips’ $8 billion endeavor to drill for oil in Alaska’s North Slope. The venture will release an estimated 9.2 million tons of carbon pollution yearly into the atmosphere, equivalent to the addition of 2 million cars to our nation’s roads. The effect of Willow will be catastrophic for not only the neighboring Native villages of the Nuiqsut and the Alaskan ecosystem, but will erode our planet’s already-tenuous ozone layer. 

To make matters worse, Willow is not alone. According to the New York Times, in 2022-2023, the United States alone has already approved or is expected to approve the extraction of almost 2,000 million barrels of oil, of which Willow accounts for just one-third. 

This epidemic of fuel greed has not only sunk its claws into our own nation, but has crept into places like Brazil, Uganda, and Guyana, where new oil fields are slated for exploitation. Qatar’s plans to create the world’s largest gas production facility in 2025 means that for now, at least, climate change will continue on its upwards trajectory.

But the planet’s temperature is not the only thing that has risen in the past years. Climate change awareness has gained traction, with notable support from the younger generation. Social media has propelled massive movements such as Zero Hour, founded by then-15-year-old Jamie Margolin, a nationwide youth group focused on establishing environmental justice. Swedish teen Greta Thunberg made waves with her strong appeal for action outside of Stockholm’s parliament building. There were 250,000 protestors who rose with her in New York, as a part of the 2019 Global Climate Strike — and most of them were students.

Gen Z is trying desperately to fill the empty promises that they are given. The dialectic exchange between the government and climate-aware activists has tumbled to a halt, having been replaced with massive oil corporations waving green dollar signs in the air. Our childhood April showers and Christmas flurries have already turned into floods and infernos. So I ask you: how much longer can we afford to wait before the fire closes in?

Sources - 

Nilsen, Ella. "The Willow Project has been approved. Here’s what to know about the controversial oil-drilling venture." CNN. 14 March 2023.

Friedman, Lisa. "Biden Administration Approves Huge Alaska Oil Project." The New York Times. 12 March 2023.

Bearak, Max. “It’s Not Just Willow: Oil and Gas Projects Are Back in a Big Way.” The New York Times. 6 April 2023.

Yoon-Hendricks, Alexandra. “Meet the Teenagers Leading a Climate Change Movement.” The New York Times. 21 July 2018.

De Luce, Ivan. “12 Gen Zers who skipped school to march across New York for the Global Climate Strike share why this is the most urgent issue of their generation.” Business Insider. 20 September 2019.