Climate change is destroying our planet, but our government only cares about pleasing oil corporations.
The Senate voted 63-37 to begin debating the Keystone XL Pipeline, which is more than the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster. However, it’s not enough to override a guaranteed veto from the Obama administration.
Majority leader Mitch McConnell is trying to get more Democrat supporters by allowing an open-amendment process. This allows senators to vote on and add certain provisions to bills.
I’m glad McConnell is trying to work with everyone in Congress, but he’s ignoring the big issue. The pipeline will damage our environment while providing virtually no benefits to the American people.
We are at a time in our lives where we need to turn away from environmentally destructive fossil fuels.
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration both concluded 2014 was the warmest year since they began recording yearly temperature 134 years ago.
In fact, the 10 warmest years all occurred after 1998, and nine of them occurred after 2002.
People rejecting the concept of man-made climate change are rejecting the consensus of 97 percent of scientists. When climate-change deniers rejecting this near-unanimous theory, they allow oil companies to destroy our planet for a profit.
The Keystone XL Pipeline also poses a threat to contaminate one of the largest aquifers in America. If the pipeline were built, it would cut through the Ogallala Aquifer in Nebraska.
This aquifer has enough water to cover the 48 contiguous states, and 2 million Americans rely on it for drinking water.
If the Keystone XL Pipeline were to leak, 2 million people wouldn’t have drinking water. Farmers wouldn’t have water for their crops. Essentially, famine could occur throughout the entire country if this pipeline leaks in the aquifer.
Aside from the environmental impact, oil isn’t a reliable source of energy. We’re using Earth’s resources faster than it can replenish itself. What’s going to happen when we use all of our oil? How are we going to survive without our cars and electricity and the smart phones we’ve grown accustomed to?
We need to invest less in oil and more in renewable natural resources such as solar and wind power.
We have windmills that generate power. We have solar panels that can produce energy. We even have the money to give every house in America solar panels, but we’d rather spend it on two losing wars.
The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have already cost us $1.5 trillion, and they’re projected to cost us $4 to 6 trillion total. Putting solar panels on every home in America would cost us $2.33 trillion.
Maybe that’s too much money for us to spend, and maybe it’s too late to redirect money from the wars to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. But when politicians are willing to spend more money on war than on making Americans energy independent, it’s time to rethink our votes and priorities.
Cody Sibley is a 19-year-old mass communication freshman from Opelousas, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter at @CodySibley.