ECOS students champion environmental issues
ECOS, the Ecological Coalition of Students, is saving the environment one spot at a time. The group, which is comprised of more than 500 students, campaigns on public land issues.
Its greatest accomplishment was, “probably the roadless forest protection plan decided by the forest service. We set a record of public participation with over 2 million comments,” said Jim Steitz, ECOS Public Lands Coordinator.
Recently ECOS took a trip to San Rafael “to monitor off-road vehicle damage and to undo some of the damage that’s already been done,” Steitz said.
Eight ECOS members from the area joined 150 from across the country at a summit in Washington, D.C., where they learned how to be environmental activists on campus.
“We did some actual lobbying in Congress while we were there,” Steitz said.
ECOS is always looking for support for its efforts, Steitz said.
“The first step is to write your congressmen; tell them what you think. A congressional office only has to receive a small number of letters before an issue is on their radar screen,” Steitz said.
Wednesday, members tackled an issue by protesting outside Staples. The corporation shows “irresponsible use of paper products,” Steitz said. Steitz also said Staples went out of its way to appear environmentally friendly to its customers that day, setting up a recycling bin just inside the door “for people who wanted to dispose of our literature as they went in. It was sort of an ironic turn around back at you,” Steitz said.
ECOS is trying to rally support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act to protect Utah’s wilderness, and is fighting against the proposed drilling in Alaska at ANWR, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
“It is primarily being done by large oil industries like Shell, Exxon, Amoco and Chevron, but how do you boycott a gas company? It would be the end as we know it of the most intact ecosystem in the United States,” Steitz said.
The ECOS group fears the drilling in Alaska would lead to disastrous effects on the natural habitat. It stresses the point that the porcupine caribou herds would be disturbed and their numbers would decrease from the intermingling of technology and nature.
“The biggest issue is that it would be right in the calving grounds of the porcupine caribou herds,” Steitz said.
ANWR is 19 million acres of land in the northeast corner of Alaska. The coastal section is made up of 1 1/2 million acres. Oil companies are lobbying to open a small portion, less than 2,000 acres, to drill for oil. It is believed 17 billion barrels of oil and 34 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are available, which would decrease both gas and oil prices and high levels of imports, which threaten national security. To date, 71 percent of Alaskans and 58 percent of mainland Americans support the legislation, according to www.anwr.com. The oil drilling would create 250 to 735,000 jobs for the Alaskan people resulting in better schools and opportunities.
A majority of Alaskans feel the drilling would be beneficial.
“We Alaskans are strong environmentalists. We know that creating new jobs and protecting the environment can go hand in hand,” said Fenton Rexford of Kaktowic, ANWR.
Alaska is already being drilled, almost 100 miles west of ANWR at Prudhoe Bay, Kupark, Lisburne and Endicott in Alaska. These cities produce 25 percent of all United States domestic oil production. There, the worries over the caribou have been put to rest.
“Millions of dollars of research on wildlife resources and their habitat on Alaska’s North Slope have not only immeasurably increased the scientific understanding of arctic ecosystems, but have also shown that wildlife and petroleum development and production can coexist,” Fenton said.
For more information on this issue, visit www.anwr.com.