Environment

What Is The Willow Project?

How the willow project could affect our future

“Climate Emergency – Families facing Climate Change” by John Englart (Takver) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

The Willow Project is a proposal by ConocoPhillips (Alaska’s oil producer) to drill oil and gas from Alaska with over 100 miles of pipelines, but what will this do to our environment?

As of right now, they are installing industrial chillers due to the fact that the permafrost in the Alaskan arctic regions is melting. Permafrost is underground soil that prevents certain plants from growing, but permafrost should never need to thaw. These industrial chillers are planted to rebuild the frost and protect their equipment at the planned drilling sites.

Climate change has been a problem for several decades, and it’s getting worse. If they end up drilling the millions of barrels they plan to, it’s estimated that over 200,000,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and other climate-harming chemicals into the atmosphere.

The reasoning behind this is for a more prosperous economic system, if Earth heats up to an extent, they plan to re-freeze the arctic and continue the cycle. What this will do to our world is corrupt many habitats, kill many animals to the point where some arctic animals could go extinct, and it could affect our living habits as well. How will the economy help us w hen we are all dying from air pollution?