The Great Alaska Debate

The Great Alaska Debate

WILDERNESS v.s. oil

In the last great wild place in Alaska, a battle of epic proportion has unfolded. On one side is the conservationist lobbying to save the second largest national wildlife refuge, home to many different animals, tribes of Eskimos, and Native Americans. The other side is a partnership of oil companies led by Chevron U.S.A. lobbying to drill and extract a massive qualities of crude oil, under 15,200 feet of ice and snow past the permafrost, to supply the 48 lower states. In the article titled The Great Alaska Debate by Timothy Egan, he attempts to equally represent both sides of the debate but instead inserts his own biased opinion through the use of description, diction and quotations.

First, Egan make his love for wilderness wildlife obvious with very elaborate descriptions of the Alaskan landscape. While his journalistic obligation is to report both sides of this debate, he chooses to describe the wilderness in much more detail than the benefits of drilling and extracting oil. One example of how Egan does this is in his first page during his introduction he spends all of his time describing the many different aspects of Alaskan wildlife. Another example is his long winded explanation of the diet of “grasses and flowerbuds” that caribou feed on during the summer. Also, whenever Egan actually brings up the other side’s point of view, he briefly and vaguely describes it and then quickly reverts back to his beloved descriptions. His description are fulled with an abundance of precisely chosen words.

Second, Egan’s diction or choice of words make his hidden argument well known for the preservation of the Alaskan arctic national wildlife refuges. Diction is a very powerful tool when consciously used to make a point. One example of this powerful uses of language is his description of crude oil. His words were “ ...cheap Alaskan crude,...” emphasizing the indecent nature of drilling for oil. He also talks about how the “pristine beaches and wildlife refuges will be violated...” By using the word “violated,” he implies that it was a violent act to drill oil and connects other sites such as “beaches” to relate to more people. One