Whether it was on an Instagram post, someone’s Snapchat story, or even on Tiktok, just about anywhere on social media, you might’ve seen, “save the Arctic.” So what do you want to do? 

Some choose to ignore it. Some choose to actually educate themselves and do something about it. 

For those ignoring, here is why you shouldn’t.

President Donald Trump and the Trump Administration are planning to and will drill oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR.  Specifically the coastal plain. 

By doing so, Trump will fulfill his hopes of making the US the top energy producer in the world, according to vox. 

With this sale set for Jan 6, 2021, Trump and his administration will make quite a lot of profit off of this and he is undoubtedly endangering Indigenous lands, the culture, communities, and a lot of animals already living there. 

How you may ask?

The Arctic is warming twice as much compared to the rest of the world and drilling oil will only make the Arctic hotter. Drilling has already occurred from 95 percent of Alaska and the last 5 percent can affect the environment and possibly lead to oil spillage. According to Greenpeace, the U.S. Department of Interior discovered that there is a 75 percent chance that a major spill can occur. Conforming to American progress, there have reportedly been 400 spills per year on average in and 16 major spills, which produced 10,000 gallons of oil. Five of the 16 produced more than 100,000 gallons of oil. All of this oil that was produced went into the environment. 

A government analysis (according to American progress) showed drilling in the coastal plain would not only “affect more than 300,000 acres of caribou calving areas,” but also “decrease the quality of 162,000 to 236,000 acres of snow goose staging habitat.”

Everything is at stake here and we need to do something about it. In fact, we can. 

May I remind you, that this is happening Jan. 6, 2021 — just two weeks before President-Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. 

We can all take a part and make a change to spread awareness of this issue, in fact, we should spread awareness. 

You can spread the word on Social Media, i.e. Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, or TikTok. Another thing you can do is take action, by submitting your comments to the Fish and Wildlife Service.  You can even write a letter to the Fish and Wildlife Service expressing your thoughts and your opinion by yourself. 

This is a major issue that needs to be addressed and we should all do what we can do to save the Arctic. #ProtectTheArctic