Five million people. Over five million people in the U.S. have signed a petition to stop the Willow Project. With the amount of harm that this project will bring, it may destroy Earth to a point that it is irreversible. 

The Willow Project is an eight-billion-dollar oil mining project that will take place on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope in 2027. 

ConocoPhillips discovered Willow in 2016 with two exploratory mining wells drilled and initially approved by the Trump administration in October 2020, according to blm.org. 

In 2023, President Joe Biden approved the project, which broke a campaign promise he made, saying that there would be “No new drilling, period.” In doing so, he not only lied about his promise, but also hurt his reputation.

Over five million Americans do not support his decision, according to a Change.org petition.

Biden approved this project for many reasons, with the main reason being that it plans to bring in mass amounts of oil. 

In fact, over the span of 30 years, Willow plans on producing 630 million barrels, which is 180,000 barrels of oil a day, according to pbs.org. 

As a result of this project, carbon pollution will be at its highest and will cause the Earth to warm much faster. 

Over 250 million metric tons of carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere, according to carnegieendowment.org.

Alaska’s climate degradation has progressed faster than others throughout the years, and this project will only increase that pace immensely.

According to alaskapublic.org, both Indigenous and environmental groups have planned to file lawsuits against the project in hopes of getting it shut down before it’s too late.

These catastrophic events may cause many others to happen. 

For example, animals that thrive in the cold would no longer be able to survive in this destroyed environment. Natives will not be able to travel along the ice due to ice caps melting, which would also endanger Alaskan villages, polar bears, penguins, American pika, seals, arctic foxes and many more species. 

If people want change, write to congressmen and government officials, sign the petition at Change.org, advocate on social media or call the White House.