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Paul Morigi/Getty Images-                                   Climate activists "unfurl" an anti-willow project banner outside of the White House.

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The Willow Project was just another oil drilling project that was quietly approved by the Trump Administration in early 2020. That was until Tik Tok got ahold of the story over two years later in early 2023. Hashtags like #StopWillow and #WillowProject took over every social media platform in the matter of days. The aggressive movement online prompted for environmental anxiety, spread of misinformation, and above all a rift between environmental activists and the Biden Administration. Even though the project has been approved by Biden, social media's presence has brought on new conversations about where we as a country need to be focusing our efforts in order to combat climate change.

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Who: The oil company ConocoPhillips

What: "The Bureau of Land Management estimates that Willow could produce 576 million barrels of oil over 30 years" (The Washington Post 2023).

When: Debates started back in 2020 and resurfaced in early 2023.

Where: The plot of land is located on Alaska's North Slope, which is 30 miles away from the Arctic Ocean.

Why: Because of OPEC market control and rising gas prices, America wants to bring more control home.

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Climate activists demonstrate to urge President Joe Biden to reject the Willow oil drilling at the U.S. Department of Interior on Nov. 17, 2022 in Washington

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Up until now, climate activists all around the country have enjoyed the steps Biden was taking to slow climate change. With his New Green Deal and other policies, things were looking up, Biden was keeping his promises. But, because of the approval of the Willow Project, climate activist are drastically changing their opinions of him. While Biden was running for president, he promised to stop drilling for oil on public lands and he vowed to lower subsidies for the oil, coal, and natural gas companies. Activists are disappointed but not surprised, and Biden might have lost a lot of their votes in the upcoming election next year (Chicago Sun Times 2023).

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Social media didn't necessarily change the outcome of the project, since it still got approved by the Biden Administration. But a new wave of petition signing and social outcry about climate change is some of the biggest outcomes because of social media. Social media allows for so many opinions and information to be accessible by everyone, which means that when #StopWillow went viral, more people were aware of the oil drilling project than ever before. Once the Willow Project became a national headline, other climate-threatening followed in popularity. More people were posting infographics and making more environmentally friendly decisions, things for climate activists were looking great. It became a trend to think more about sustainability. So without social media, the Willow Project would have been swept under the rug and people wouldn't be as conscious about their daily carbon footprint. (MPR News 2023).

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What are the two sides of the argument? How are these reflected in different sources?

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What are the two sides of the argument? How are these reflected in different sources?

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Obviously, there is more than two opposing sides when it comes to debates about the Willow Project. But the argument that took over social media included climate activists demanding for the decrease in the use of fossil fuels, and conservatives demanding for lower gas prices. While this whole event was taking place, the topic of high gas prices and foreign control of the oil industry was very much a relevant issue. Many conservatives and right wing economists saw the Willow Project as a way to get ahead of OPEC and a way to bring the oil market back onto American soil. The cost to the environment didn't seem as big of a problem as the rise of gas prices again. Activists aggressively disagreed, by allowing for the Willow Project to take place, Biden will not be able to push "other countries to develop cleaner alternatives instead of oil and natural gas" which is seen as a huge loss in the climate change battle (The Washington Post 2023). Conservatives then clapped back with the argument that "the severity of the project has also been exaggerated online in comparison to the damage people do to the environment and atmosphere every day" which definitely gained some people to their side of the argument (The Southerner 2023). It is obvious that these two sources took a side to appeal to their viewers, since The Washington Post appeals to more left wing Americans, and The Southerner the opposite. What side of the story you believe depends heavily on who you follow, what news you read, and where you get your information from.

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The next biggest effect from social media's presence was the overwhelming increase in climate change anxiety. There was a social outcry about our impending doom and the extinction of polar bears. People were angry. People were scared. All of these emotions were swirling around in instagram and twitter posts and overall brought the feeling that the Willow Project would blow up the earth (CBS news 2023). This paired with misinformation made for mass hysteria online. Which truth be told, brought more awareness to the project and climate activist's agendas.

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Internet trends are never 100% factual, and the #StopWillow movement is no different. The Southern describes it as "Teenagers are notorious for not reading the news and relying on social media for information, resulting in many believing the Willow Project rumors, despite no evidence to back them". While the Willow Project could potentially cause massive harm to ecosystems in northern Alaska, social media definitely exceeded the narrative. Many tweets from activities include the words, "destruction, irreversible, and devastating" all words that are used to build sympathy for their cause. These words catch the attention of many casual social media participants and push them to donate to organizations they know very little about and further increase the spread of misinformation. This new narrative has changed the outlook on climate change as a whole, many people now believe that it is too late to save the planet, which is wholly untrue.

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What if Biden listened to activists and did not approve the project?

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What if Biden listened to activists and did not approve the project?

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The #StopWillow campaign turned political very fast. But what if Biden would have just said "no" to the oil drilling project? One of the major reasons Biden was forced to approve the project was because his administration was "limited by the law that governs NPR-A and the leases that ConocoPhillips has held since long before the Biden administration took office" (The Washington Post 2023). Meaning it was very much out of his control. So putting a stop to the project would have led to a lot of legal trouble that would be at the expense of taxpayers.

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What if #StopWillow never made headlines?

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What if #StopWillow never made headlines?

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This "What If" is pretty simple. If #StopWillow never got traction on social media, many activists and climate change organization would not have been able to sway people to their cause. The outcome pertaining to the approval of the oil project may have been the same but the everlasting effect on climate change would have been very different.

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We as a society have learned from this social media take over that using trends to sway people one way or another is a great way to gain followers for something. Teens and young adults these days feel like they are making real change by signing petitions and reposting things on their story. Though this is not fully untrue, trends eventually die out and their support goes to the next social trend. The #StopWillow campaign is a great example of how trends can take social media by a storm and push people to act like they really care about social issues.