With the Willow Project being approved on March 13^th of 2023 there are thoughts, feelings, and concerns about the project.

The Willow Project is a massive oil drilling venture that is taking place on Alaska’s North Slope. By estimates, the project would generate enough oil to release 9.2 million metric tons of carbon pollution a year, which can cause further global warming problems.

“I mean I think that this project is just going to ruin the climate, its sending oil into the environment which is bad for us, for animals and the world we live in. Yeah, maybe we have more jobs but it’s going to ruin our earth,” Freshman Jeymar Couvertier-Jones said.

While this project has a great effect on our environment in general, it will mostly have an effect on the Alaskan population.

“It will move a lot of the native Americans from Alaska making them basically homeless and it’s going to cause major damage to the environment around them,” Freshman Victor Perez said.

The Willow Project has more than just an effect on people. The project will also affect animals as it could destroy habitats, alter migration patterns and more.

“This will affect wildlife, putting all of this oil into their environment and we might lose all the animals that live over in areas near Alaska or really anywhere,” Couvertier-Jones said.

With President Biden approving The Willow Project. This move has made a lot of people upset as when Biden was running for President, he made multiple promises to try and help with climate issues. People believe by approving this project he is going against his word.

“We voted Biden in as a President because we thought he could take care of us and this country which he wanted to run. So, for him to approve this project that could really affect wildlife because of the temptations of the benefits instead of thinking about all the bad stuff. Especially when he made promises not to ruin the environment,” Couvertier-Jones said.

While the negatives within this project are what most people have focused on, some can also see how this project brings positives.

“I mean I can see both sides. I understand the reasons and the challenging needs we have for fossil fuels and that we spend a lot of money purchasing fossil fuels from other countries when we have our own resources here in the United States so yes maybe we should start tapping into those, so I can see that that might bring down gas prices or limit fuel prices so it’s a positive,” Science teacher Karen Tripp said.

While this project will affect everyone, people apart of generations such as millennials or Gen Z are particularly upset about this approval and are looking for ways to make a change.

“I feel like younger generations have gotten more aware of the climate. I think we’ve gotten a lot better. I think Gen z and that generation are really aware of what you do. You are aware not to throw trash on the ground and you know about plastics in the ocean. I think education is the first step to getting positive outcomes and it’s something that this generation is really big about. So, I feel like we’re not as bad as we could be, but we could always be better,” Tripp said.

People in their adolescence are ready to make a change and try to help, especially in this situation. Perez believes that there are a lot of different things people can do to help.

“Well, a couple of prominent ways in which teens could help are by creating corporations, nonprofit organizations and by educating and spreading awareness on social media,” Perez said.

Before this project was approved there was a petition going around trying to stop President Biden from approving the project. While the project got five million signatures it did not work, and the project was still approved.

“Five million is a lot of people, but is it a lot of people? It’s like that whole question of is it enough. There’s a lot of money involved here, large businesses, and contractual things. There’s like previous administration setup and stuff and I feel like it probably was never going to stop this. Maybe if it was like half the USA that signed it, but realistically do people in Florida care about what happens in Alaska? Probably not so much because you’re not directly affected,” Tripp said.

Even while some can see positives in the project others believe that there is no point to the project with all the downsides that it brings with it.

“There’s no point in having that oil if there’s no world left,” Perez said.