The Earth’s changing climate and concerns for the future has become a very common topic. With people attempting to spread awareness about things one can do to prevent climate change, a major obstacle has come forth: the Willow Project. Proposed by ConocoPhillips, it is making its way through congress, soon to be approved or denied by the Biden Administration.

This plan is said to be a decades-long oil drilling project in Alaska’s North Slope in the National Petroleum Reserve. Its goal is to extract around 500 to 600 million barrels of oil, said to give many people jobs and opportunities to work on this site, while also allowing the U.S. to depend less on foreign oil. Alongside this, however, will bring serious repercussions. 

“The Willow Project would be adding fuel to a global climate system that is already on fire,” according to Ellen Montgomery, part of Environment America. 

This project can seriously harm the surrounding ecosystems and habitats of animals and plants, along with public health. There have been raised concerns of the overall health of people who live near this site, questioning how the pollution may affect them. 

The administration has predicted there to be as much as 9.2 million metric tons of carbon pollution a year generated just from the oil drilled, further warming the planet. 

In outrage, the Willow Project has been a viral topic on TikTok, causing people to send letters to the White House and to sign a Change.org petition. Already, the White House and Biden Administration  has received over one million letters and the Change.org petition has over 2.8 million signatures according to CNN.

Although it seems like a big feat to overcome, individual people like students, can help to prevent this project. Like the urges from people on TikTok, individuals can take action by signing the Change.org petition and sending letters to the Biden Administration regarding the inevitable damages this project can have.

Until this is stopped, it is important to make your own efforts to not only prevent this project from taking place, but also make contributions to reducing the rapid rate of climate change. Simple things like using reusable things such as bags and water bottles, recycling, and trying to use less energy will benefit the environment overall, adding to the collective contribution as well.