A 10-foot-tall cardboard oil rig and chains of aluminum-can pipeline were the props for dozens of demonstrators who stopped students crossing the Green yesterday afternoon during a protest of potential oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Yesterday's collaborative effort of campus environmental groups was part of the "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Day of Action," one of the initiatives that was agreed upon at last week's "Greening of the Ivies" conference at Dartmouth attended by environmentalists from all eight Ivy League institutions.
"Care about caribou," Brent Reidy '05 yelled at passersby. He and other demonstrators urged students to call their senators, hoping to influence the upcoming U.S. Senate vote on President George W. Bush's energy bill.
The legislation may include an amendment to allow oil drilling on the refuge's 19 million acres of intact arctic and sub-arctic lands in northeastern Alaska. The vote is expected to be close.
In addition to the protest on the Green, tables of telephones set up in the Collis Center and Thayer Dining Hall allowed students free calls to their state senators or to U.S. senators from New Hampshire.
Participating students expressed support of New Hampshire Republican Bob Smith, who is facing pressure to change his opposition to drilling. They also hoped to change the mind of New Hampshire's other senator, Republican Judd Gregg, who supports drilling.
"The office definitely noticed the calls from the Dartmouth students, and he definitely appreciates the support," said Eryn Witcher, a spokesperson from Smith's office.
"It was the first time that some students had ever called their senators. They got to see the role that they can have in the policy process. People were really excited about it," said Oliver Bernstein '03 coordinator of the Tucker Foundation's Environmental Conservation Organization.
Erica Mintzer '02 spearheaded the day's events along with Reidy, Alexandra Fleming '05 and Jesse Foote '01.
Other Ivy League schools had their own events. At Cornell, students organized a massive email and pamphlet campaign to spread the message across their campus.
"Yale has been doing stuff with energy since last week," Noah Chesnin, president of Yale's Student Environmental Coalition, said.
Students at Yale held a symposium entitled "Our Energy Future" last Thursday and spent this week gathering signatures for petitions on sustainable energy use, including the "Declaration of Energy Independence."
Rachelle Gould, a student at Harvard, said, "We're tabling in dining halls across the campus. I think we only got about 50 letters last night, but we're heading out again tonight, with higher goals,"
At Dartmouth, passers-by paused inquisitively. Some students applauded the efforts. Others disagreed.
"Call me cynical, but if oil drilling is done on American soil, America will be feeling the impact up close. It will get people to think about the gross consumption of oil in this country," Anthony Bider-Hall '05 said.
Jim Laatsch '02, who lived in Alaska for several years, also disagreed.
"The economy of Alaska depends on oil. Too much attention is being paid to the campaigns and not enough to what impact it is going to have on the state. Prudhoe Bay has shown that drilling can be done in an environmentally safe way," Laatsch said.
Opponents assert that, contrary to Bush's claim that drilling is essential to national energy security, drilling in the wildlife refuge would only provide the United States with a four- to six-month supply of oil.
They note as well that the oil from wells in the refuge would likely not begin to flow for perhaps as long as 10 years.
"This is only a band-aid solution to United States energy problems," Mintzer said.
Whether or not students agreed with the protest, most were impressed with the display of activism.
"I think its great that people are really out there organizing," Hillary Miller '02 said. "Enough of the Blitz bulletins, this is great. It's windy and cold but there are a lot of people out here."
Overall, the demonstrators considered their effort a success.
"We raised a lot of awareness on campus on this issue today. People were not aware that land that basically belonged to them is in jeopardy," Bernstein said.
