Will the Material Industry Cost us Biodiversity? Insights from HML’s High School Intern

Just last week, I was in Alaska watching the tides creep up the steps at the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies and listening to generational wisdom from speakers of Native Alaskan tribes. As I became more acquainted with the people of Alaska, I noticed a pattern as they spoke of the changes they’ve seen from their childhood to present day. Their childhoods of snow reaching the top of their doors turned into adulthoods of rain and ice with record-breaking heat waves in the summer. The Inupiaq, Yup’ik, Cup’ik, Eyak, Gwich’in, and Athabascan peoples have had to adapt because of the effects of phenology, or the timings of seasonal biological events, which can be traced directly back to human destruction.

Our material world is creating divides between people and the environment, constructing a world where species go extinct every day, and keeping wildlife refuges protected is a never-ending battle. The energy-intensive building industry makes up roughly 31% of global greenhouse gas emissions¹, affecting the caribou and wood bison, the flora and fauna, and us humans. We are all connected, from the food we eat to the ecosystems we live in, and we are beginning to see the harm when this balance is disrupted. From the sea stars who are dying of disease and the salmon who can no longer return to their birth sites for mating, we are seeing the impacts of warming on all of the world, particularly the ocean.

As we continue to drill for oil to create materials such as asphalt, plastic, polyester, and polyurethane foam, we are actively destroying our environment and with it the biodiversity of our planet. This is a domino effect that will eventually mean the mass extinction of all species.

Biodiversity needs to become a deciding factor in the material cycle, from sourcing materials to their distribution, use, and disposal. Without maintaining a balance and respect for ecosystems and wildlife to thrive, we cannot guarantee that humans will be able to thrive. For example, if we drill in the Arctic Refuge for petroleum, it will supply the material world with everything from chemicals and plastics to other synthetic materials. But drilling in the refuge also means that 69 out of the 157 bird species found in the area could be at particular risk for extinction.² This has a ripple effect, as not only will other species be displaced, but the entire local ecosystem will be unbalanced. As an ecosystem collapses, animals and plants begin to die, leaving open patches of land which contribute to a drier, hotter climate, further advancing global warming. Without the flora, fauna, and animals to control the natural environment, droughts creep in and can lead to food and water shortages and rising food prices, which can contribute to economic conflict.³ Wildfires are increasing, and regions like the Kenai Peninsula are burning at a never-seen-before rate, leading to massive amounts of air pollution, business destruction, and a ruined summer season for the agricultural industry. Through the loss of biodiversity in Alaska and the world in general, natural disasters have become amplified. Without factoring in biodiversity when making decisions in the material world, we are putting local and global animals, plants, and humans at risk.

What struck me the most while being in Alaska was that drilling for fossil fuels seemed inevitable, and many people are not opposed to it because of the increase in stipends they receive. Stipends are essentially bonuses given to Alaskan residents through the profit of the state’s oil royalties through a yearly dividend. Every Alaskan receives these checks, which are about $1,600 per year per person, depending on Alaska’s annual oil income.⁴ Therefore as oil drilling increases in Alaska, Alaskan residents receive more money. Alaska’s poverty rates are well below the national average even with the stipends, creating a divide between the conservation of the planet and the ability to survive.

Because of this, it is no secret that oil drilling in Alaska has been a subject of controversy for decades, but native voices on this subject have long been silenced. Today, many Alaskans don’t have the privilege of being opposed to it, even if they’re seeing the impacts of climate change 3 times more rapidly compared to the lower 48 states.

When we drill, the deeply sacred land of the Native Alaskan peoples is torn apart, displacing them and the habitats they coexist with. After the land is destroyed, the people and organisms are displaced, what happens when we run out of oil?

In just over two weeks of being in Alaska and immersed in the effects of climate change, I realized how vital it is to listen to the native peoples, animals, and land- we have two ears and one mouth and must use them proportionately.⁵

Oil drilling, especially in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, cannot be the solution to keeping food on the table for Alaskan residents. And while there is no perfect answer, the vitality of the wildlife and native cultures in Alaska must be maintained without the complete destruction of the land. We are stuck in an ongoing conflict of sustainability versus survivability when in reality the only way to get past these issues is to bring the two together.

Lila Quinn worked with HML in the summer of 2022 as a High School intern, and we wanted to highlight some of her perspectives and insights as she pursues a future of environmental stewardship. This essay comes from her trip with Brown University’s Environmental Leadership program.

Footnotes:

1. “Five Grand Challenges.” n.d. Www.breakthroughenergy.org. https://www.breakthroughenergy.org/our-challenge/the-grand-challenges#:~:text=But%20we%20know%20the%20main. Via Healthy Materials Lab, “Low Embodied Carbon Materials”, 2022. https://healthymaterialslab.org/material-collections/low-embodied-carbon-materials

2. Adam Aton,E&E News. 2019. “Drilling Could Cause Extinctions in Alaskan Refuge, Government Plan Says.” Scientific American. September 16, 2019. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/drilling-could-cause-extinctions-in-alaskan-refuge-government-plan-says/

3. Zielinski, Sarah. n.d. “Eight Ways That Climate Change Hurts Humans.” Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/eight-ways-climate-change-hurts-humans-180950475/

4. Carter, Shawn, “Vermont, Alaska and 6 other places in the US that will pay you to live there”, CNBC Make It. 2019. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/17/us-cities-and-states-that-will-pay-you-to-live-there.html#:~:text=Alaska%20runs%20a%20program%20called,out%20to%20%241%2C600%20per%20person.

5. Adapted quote attributed to Epictetus, a Greek philosopher in 60 AD.