Standing with Standing Rock by David Baker

David Baker

Ms. Aziz

Environmental Science

28 November, 2016

Standing With Standing Rock

People are using social media to fight for social justice by using hashtags such as: #dakotaaccesspipeline, #dapl, and #nodapl. These hashtags are spreading awareness and have even been used to organize rallies and protests against the big oil companies. It is great to see people of all different backgrounds coming together uniting against a common enemy. Social media is a great way to spread information about something you care about. Almost everyone uses some source of social media and that makes it a great and reliable way to spread information.

Where do you think your tax dollars go; to strengthen our police force, pave the roads, or to teach our children? What if I told you they were going to siccing dogs on Native American protesters. The people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe were attacked by dogs for exercising their right to protest. Sheriff Bull Connor sicced dogs on civil rights protesters in Birmingham a half century ago. The North Dakota pipeline is a $3.8 billion dollar project that paves right through a Native American reservation. If installed the pipeline will spew oil into a nearby river that the Sioux Tribe depends on for freshwater and food. Not only are the Sioux Tribe being affected by the pipeline, farmers in Iowa are losing their land. The pipeline is calculated to carry 570,000 barrels of oil a day through the Dakotas and Iowa. We are not sure if the oil is for U.S. citizens.

The article “Norway’s Largest Bank Sells Assets in Dakota Access Pipeline Company” talks about how the largest bank in Norway funding nearly 3.5 billion dollars into the pipeline project. This is very bad for the people of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The money from the bank will not only push the project back on track, but it may also bring in more investors to fund the pipeline. If this large norwegian bank sees this as profitable, than others may invest further to make more money by killing Native Americans on their land. The reward is not worth the outcome, If this goes through they will lose a ton of customers that are protesting the pipeline.

Sources:

"The Energy Story - Chapter 8: Fossil Fuels - Coal, Oil and Natural Gas." The Energy Story - Chapter 8: Fossil Fuels - Coal, Oil and Natural Gas. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.

"Fossil." Department of Energy. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.

"Dakota Pipeline: Army Corps Orders Protesters out." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.

"Norway's Largest Bank Sells Assets in Dakota Access Pipeline Company." Democracy Now! N.p., 2016. Web. 28 Nov. 2016.