With all the places they already have lined up to drill in, leave the whales to the indigenous culture! Must we take every last scrap of earth available for drilling.
Look how the rain forests are vanishing with the flora and fauna that will never be replaced and possibly hold cures for who knows what ailments of mankind, not to mention the damage to the atmosphere and contribution to global warming, with all that burning!
Man will destroy this planet yet, with our insatiable greed, we are terrible stewards of our natural world. The older I get, the more I dispair of the future of this planet.

California Girl ,
Send more images ! How's the food?
Ask the Shell rep about any climate changes .
Great work.

Too bad that Shell and the other oil companies don't take the money they are spending on legal fees, etc. and sink it into research and development of alternate forms of energy to power our cars, trucks, etc. and to provide our electricity. We need to be cautious on what we do in the environment not just in the Arctic and Alaska but everywhere – some consequences of man's actions, the environment cannot recover from.

Annie Kate
Birmingham AL

off shore drilling is totally and utterly bad idea...why, it doesnot produce 3 percent of oil...for 10 years...instead we need to cut down on driving...prices come down...inflation come down...obama is darn right in this...search for alternative sources to run the cars...fossil fuels, ethanal etc, solar...we need these things...drill baby drill goes to ABUSE OF POWER IN TROOPER CASE...OK, IT IS TOTALLY RIDICULOUS THINGS WE DO....OOKAY....god bless our great nation, the usa...cut down on influx of foreigners...that means, stringent immigration laws implimented...i have no time to talk elaboratively..ok...i am busy now...

We are not only drilling in Alaska. Mexico is a vital source and I think that is why oil is dropping. The demand is there.

Lisa/AC360:
The United States burns 25 percent of the world's oil. On the other hand, we only have three percent of the world's proven oil reserves. Also, isn't most of the oil produced in Alaska sold to Japan and Southeast Asia?

The Bush Administration said drilling for oil now won't be productive for 10 years.

Wait a minute! We consume 25 percent and have 3 percent. Is drilling or constructing a pipe line necessary but only in 10 years.

We need to find other energy solutions without desiccating the pristine land of Alaska, violating the customs of Inupiat or disrupting the natural rhythm of our oceans.

I look forward to your full report on Planet in Peril.

SAVE THE WHALES! This is why the whole world hates us. We are greedy and exploitative. We commodify everything God has created under the sun, or more correctly a depleting ozone. We have destroyed and killed to have our way on this planet.
When it comes right down to it, we don't let God's magnificent creatures stop us from having what we want. Hell, we even commodify human beings to get what we want. The Native Americans, slaves, people in prison for non-violent crimes, and war that kills thousands.
That is the American way. Aren't we proud to be the most powerful nation on earth? So many have to suffer for our lifestyle. It is no wonder the whole world hates us.
When will we learn? We have certainly failed the test so far.I hope it is not too late~

Well, we sure did a lot under the guise of 'eminent domain'.

Alaskans are the only ones that receive money from the oil drilling but we all pay taxes for oil drilling. Does this mean we will all become beneficiaries to receive money from the oil drilling which we pay for? I think we that don't live in Alaska have been totally ripped off.

Thank you Nacgdoches, TX!! I Absolutely agree!! let us sit down and think for a minute. must we make the whole planet into our human garbage dump – fit for nothing beautiful and free – I live in the lower 48 and – and dread every new project (housing housing housing – roads roads roads) where do all those "squashed animals" on the roads have to go now! I live in perpetual sadness – and see that it seems that few really care. Those that do are called tree huggers etc. we need to be kinder to our planet and to each other!! Money isn't everything! I ought to know because I don't hardly have any peace and harmony to all.

Are Palin and McCain in Shell's pocket? How could she turn against
the natives and scream "drill baby drill"? There are other places to
drill. What happened to Pickens idea for wind energy? Why help
the oil companies? Why? I'm old enough to know the answer to
that!
Our state of Iowa has many wind towers – and more to come.

I hate to say it but the way we take care of our planet is criminal. I do'nt have any kids, so by the time things really start going south I'll either be dead or close to it. Good luck to all the people with children and their drill baby drill mentality. Were going to leave a waste land to future generations because of how short sighted we are.

I think the government should mandate that 25% of the profit from all drilling and oil sales by American companies go to fund research and development of alternative safe clean fuel like solar! The sun sends its energy to us and no drilling, no destruction of the earth would be needed to tap that clean safe source...why oh why is so little done in solar. I have a chemical engineering degree and considered going for a PhD in it but I couldn't find any decent solar energy research being done in academia for a PhD so I went into industry doing other things... why not more money being put into solar energy research?? Are the oil companies secretly stopping that??? And I use to own a Honday CRX high fuel economy model and got 50 city and as much as 60 highway when it was new around 20 years ago now, and now my new Civic only gets around 25mpg... why aren't more cars made like that CRX, granted its a 2 seater but for young people or single people or as Dad or Mom's going to work car, its the best car I ever had... why doesn't Honda make that fuel economy car again? And why doesn't the government mandate that technology that kept it so fuel efficient for X percentage of cars?

I thought I had heard this summer that there are large supplies of oil in N. Dakota that have been untapped. Surely it makes more sense to drill in fields vs a frozen tundra/offshore. Hopefully our new president will push the non-oil solutions we need in this country. Greed seems to be the main motivator in Alaska.

AC, We want to know more about AIP that sarah palin and hubby are involved with.How could John McCain pick someone who pals around with people who say DAMN THE AMERICAN FLAG? I'm sure they wanted this story to stay hidden but we have the right to know.This is worst then Bill Ayers story.My God this is our Flag .You have to wonder if John McCain is involved with AIP to. GOD BLESS AMERICA AND OUR FLAG

Another great article! Thank you, Lisa Ling! We are going to have to change our greedy ways, from the way we rack up debt on Credit Cards to the way we drive!

We, Americans, have been living on borrowed time. We have been living in denial, that the world's climate is changing; that we have all the money in the world....... when, thanks to Bush/Cheney/McCain the National Dent has almost TRIPLED while they have been in office!

We need to take a breath and learn for the economic crisis and ALSO from the ecological crisis we have to deal with!

We can not afford to life in denial any longer. I think "drill, baby. drill" is the most ignorant statement a politician has ever uttered!