Our bilateral experience was very useful and informative as it allowed us to get to know more about what is happening in other countries, even getting first-hand information from people who are close to these climate issues.

In Alaska, the wrongful disposal of oil is killing the beluga whales and their population has been greatly reduced. We can relate to this issue because like the one we presented (about a uranium mine), it is a man-made disaster that affects animal life in the area. There was also a great mobilization of people against both these issues. 

Quite contrary to our issue, California's great wildfires were purely caused by global warming and started naturally. In this case, the fires affected the population greatly since many were evacuated from their homes while others could not go outside due to the smoke. In Salta, where the Argentinian mine is located, people’s health was also affected due to the pollution. 

 Both countries suffer from wildfires though, Argentina’s are much smaller than California’s and they are started purposefully and not naturally. California’s fires as well as the oil disposal in Alaska and the Argentinian mine all cause great damage to the wildlife and ecosystems. In all three issues, the government did little to nothing to help recover the damaged wildlife. However, in Alaska, there are groups of people fighting for a change, even when the federal government does not even believe in climate change, which makes us think if we should maybe do something to fix the mine here. 

Both California and Alaska’s case studies showed issues that were geographically close to them while in our case, we live quite far away from the mine which makes it harder for us to do something about it too. Our country’s economical issues also mean fewer resources for us to fight this and other priorities for the government to worry about. People’s awareness of the issues is also a great challenge. While Californian fires are widely known and covered by the media, both the radioactive uranium mine and the Alaskan beluga whales received little coverage so people do not even know these things are happening. In Argentina, there is also little education about climate change and its effects in schools so people are not really thinking much about it or what to do to fix this making it challenging to provoke a change. 

We should definitely try to create awareness about everything that goes on around the world and in our own countries so people are more conscious about their actions and their effects.

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