Here is a view of the valley facing Resurrection Bay. I am about half-way up the mountain, and the rivers you see are being fed by the Exit Glacier which is directly to my right.
Now that I am mentioning Alaska, I have to get a bit political. If you aren't into that, you can click away. There will be no teaser knitting content at the end or anything.
I just signed the Sierra Club's petition to stop the proposed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. If, like me, the thought of filthy crude oil drilling operations on the pristine Alaskan coastline (for oil we likely won't ever see) makes your skin crawl you can skip the rest of this post and just Sign the Petition here.
BUT! I would urge you to educate yourself on the issue if you have a few moments. I have assembled some links for your studying pleasure:
The news stories and commentary:
- msnbc
- Roll Call from the Guardian
- grist Mill
- Harper's has a great Oil timeline and fact list
The voices opposed to drilling:
- Wilderness.org presents the case against very well
- Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund
- Environmental Literacy Council
- Oil on Ice documentary website
- USPIRG report dispels myths about the oil potential in the ANWR.
- Two major oil companies pull out of the Arctic lobbying effort.
The voices in favor of drilling:
- ANWR
- This Wikipedia article is decidedly pro-drilling, in that it covers the reasons to drill, but not the reasons to abstain from drilling.
- An OpEd in the Des Moines Register.
- An interview with ExxonMobil CEO, Lee Raymond (he discusses many things including the ANWR issue).
- The drilling debate has been going on for awhile, here's an older OpEd in the FrontPage magazine about it.
My biggest worry is that this has become a liberal vs. conservative debate instead of a debate about oil and the environment. Please, read up and make your own decision. And then, if you still have a moment: contact your Representative and tell him/her how you feel about this issue!
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