Recently, I saw a video made by a YouTube channel called ASAP Science. It was about a trip they took to the arctic, where they could see the effects of pollution and climate change there firsthand. The sights they saw were jarring, and they clearly showed the profound effects that climate change had on the environment.
While this is not the official weekly post on problems with our Earth, I still wanted to get my thoughts on the matter out in a timely manner. Occasionally, you can expect posts in between weekly structured posts. They are more of a way to get my thoughts without having to work a long time to make it factual and well-structured. Anyway, back to the topic at hand.
In asapSCIENCE’s video, they talked about the effect oil companies have on the indigenous people of the Arctic. The effects are massive, and can lead to drastic changes to how they survive. This is unfair, as the people who contribute the least to Climate Change are the ones most affected by it. Essentially, the problem lies with large oil companies wanting to use “Seismic Blasts” to scout out oil in the Arctic. “Seismic Blasting” is when large oil rigs let out controlled blasts of sound, similar to explosions, to try and find oil in the ocean. While at first it may not sound to harmful, it will have a profound effect on the animals there and the native people.
Many animals in the arctic survive off of echolocation, or the use of sound to maneuver in the water and catch pray. However, with large blasts going off in the ocean, on average every 10 seconds, this can severely affect sea animal's sense of direction. This will make it much harder for them to catch prey, and they might die off or migrate elsewhere. And if the animals migrate elsewhere or die off, this can cause a severe problem for the people who live in the arctic. Most of their food comes from the wildlife around them. Keep in mind that, while they do not over hunt and are not wasteful, they need food to survive. If the animals migrate, they will no longer have animals to hunt, and as such, may starve.
I want to keep this post short, so if you care about this problem, or even if you don’t, I strongly urge you to sign the petition to stop seismic blasting in the arctic. This can be found here:
https://secure3.convio.net/gpeace/site/Advocacy?page=UserActionInactive&id=2015
I would also recommend you become more informed with this problem, as I have not talked about everything in depth. Check out asapSCIENCE’s video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrRDtZp96jw.
Thanks for reading
Edit: This post is from an older version of this website I created a few months ago. As such, the petition mentioned in the last paragraph has since been closed. However, the issue of seismic blasting is still prevalent, and an alternative petition (that is open at the date of posting) can be found here: http://arctic-home.greenpeace.org/en-ca/.
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