By Adam Kelly | Echo
Imagine a world where monkeys, squirrels and other small animals don't exist. Plants are withered or dead. Water has drowned coastal cities. This will happen if the earth's temperature continues to rise. Carbon emissions are a large reason why the temperature is increasing. Development of oil sands will increase carbon emissions. This oil is exactly the plan for TransCanada's Keystone Pipeline that will run from Alberta, Canada to Houston, Texas.
The Keystone Pipeline burrows 1,179 miles. If approved, the pipeline will run underground from the Alberta province through the U.S. for oil to be transported for refinement.
A key reason why many reject the Keystone Pipeline lies in the environmental deterioration the pipeline will cause. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated oil sand extraction will result in a rise in carbon emissions. Despite this statement, oil companies find these sands as an attractive source of income. Falling oil prices have led to American oil companies scrambling to stay competitive, whatever the environmental cost. But this project may not even be economically feasible due to the lower oil prices.
According to the EPA, the U.S. already releases roughly 5,000 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year, one of the highest amounts of any country. If the U.S. continues developing more land and using nonrenewable resources, emissions will continue to increase substantially.
The Washington Times has reported that the Senate passed the bill recently, and the House will pass the bill next week. The bill will then move to President Obama, who has promised to veto the bill because it has not passed his environmental impact test. His requirement was that it would not increase carbon emissions, and after the EPA's assessment of the proposed pipeline, he has decided it would increase emissions.
TransCanada, the House and the Senate believe oil produced from these sands will decrease U.S. dependence on foreign oil. These oil sands will decrease our dependence on foreign oil but we will still have a dependence on oil. They are not promoting the use of renewable resources.
What will we do then? Attempt to walk everywhere or finally put full focus on figuring out how to create better power from windmills and solar panels? It is time to focus on using renewable resources. Not once these oil sands run out but right now, before our carbon emissions cause the earth's temperature to rise and affect many plant and animal populations on this earth.
If we continue releasing emissions at this rate, some plants and animals won't survive. It will affect their ecosystems and therefore impact other plants and animals that rely on the previous. We will be suffering in the end because of the trophic cascade or domino effect.
Whatever the motivation behind the pipeline is--whether monetary gain or financial freedom--we need to consider how it will impact the world we live in.
We can start with using renewable resources. We can walk to our destinations more often, ride a bike or carpool. Take a second and think about how we could choose to use renewable sources of energy to lessen our impact on the environment. Let's keep the planet the way it was meant to be-beautiful and good.
