Denise A. Dykeman, Minot

I read the article “Studies Show Oil Industry’s Impact on ND” and shook my head. The article cites Ron Ness, the president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, touting the great jobs and tax revenue that can be achieved with production of 50,000 barrels a day. I am an environmental scientist and a lawyer. I was born in 1979. I have been working to protect the natural world since the first time I played outside. Ask my mom. I’ve also worked on many of the biggest environmental disasters over the last decade.

Here is an impact of oil and gas production on North Dakota that the studies and the article leave out: the oil and gas industry is fueling the fire that is burning our entire house to the ground.

Would you like your kids to have a future where they have enough food and clean water to drink? The oil and gas companies don’t seem to. Exxon was aware of climate change as early as 1977. Exxon knew that CO2 emissions and methane (natural gas) releases cause the earth to warm. Exxon senior scientist James Black said to Exxon’s management committee in 1977, “In the first place, there is general scientific agreement that the most likely manner in which mankind is influencing the global climate is through carbon dioxide release from the burning of fossil fuels.” A year later he warned Exxon that doubling CO2 gases in the atmosphere would increase average global temperatures by two or three degrees–a number that is consistent with the scientific consensus today. He continued to warn that “present thinking holds that man has a time window of five to 10 years before the need for hard decisions regarding changes in energy strategies might become critical.”

Much like tobacco companies, oil and gas companies knew they were causing harm. They know. But there is money to be made. And lots of it. That’s great if you’re 70 and won’t experience the worst impacts of climate change. It’s not so great if you’re 7.

A report released on Monday by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that the world is likely to surpass its most ambitious climate target — limiting warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial temperatures — by the early 2030s.

Beyond that threshold, scientists have found, climate disasters will become so extreme that people will not be able to adapt.

People. Will not be able. To adapt.

These are not other people somewhere else. These are your people. My people. You and your kids. You and your friends.

Does it have to be like this? No. We have the knowledge and technology now to move to different energy sources. We have lots of open spaces here that we could re-wild to support the earth’s natural balance. We can plant trees. We can change in so many ways. We can, collectively, take this crisis seriously and literally save the world. We can even create a ton of great new high paying jobs that are great for North Dakotans in the process. Jobs we could all be proud of.

We can be part of a hopeful future for ourselves and our kids instead of perpetuating suffering and greed and destruction. Let’s try. For the love of everything. Look up. Please. Let’s try.

But we don’t have much time. The babies born today won’t be able to do anything about it. Start with your own yard or farm or business. Ask your employer or your church to make changes. I call on every elected official in North Dakota, Governor Burgum, and everyone in a position of influence to read the latest IPCC report, consider ALL of the impacts of oil and gas, stand up for North Dakotans, and start helping everyone making changes. Now.