As I have become aware of the Gateway Pacific Terminal proposal, it strikes me that this project is going against all the progress we are trying to make towards a more sustainable future. What we choose today are the first steps towards or away from our goals. If we choose to go along with GPT, we are making progress towards a world based solely on economy and profits. Even if we ourselves are not the ones burning the dirty coal, we are enabling it to happen. Is this what we really want to support?

Throughout my nine years of school, I have been made aware that our lifestyle is not sustainable. We are creating a world full of pollution and waste without thinking of the consequences, a way of life that we cannot continue to support without creating a bleak and desolate world. I have also been encouraged to make a difference and stand up for what I believe in. Transporting America's carbon resources halfway across the globe to burn up and return as harmful chemicals in our atmosphere and water, and acidify our oceans, does not result in this future I believe we should create.

The main argument I've heard for GPT is job growth. It is a fact that we need more jobs, but this project does not create jobs that support a positive future. We need to focus on creating jobs that create a better tomorrow, without polluting our world today.

I don't like that the profits that large corporations are going to make come at the cost of my environment, health and the quality of life that I enjoy in a special place like the Pacific Northwest. The decisions adults make today will define the world my little sisters and I will inherit tomorrow.

Katrina Dank is a 14-year-old Bellingham resident and a freshman at Sehome High School.