If you've never heard of the Willow project — the massive, up-to-600-million-barrels oil-drilling venture on federal lands in the Alaska wilderness that was greenlighted this week by the Biden administration — then you're probably also not a teen or 20-something who spends a good chunk of your day on TikTok.
The ConocoPhillips drilling proposal — largely ignored in the places where boomers get their news, like MSNBC or CNN — became a viral sensation for the smartphone set as the White House decision drew closer, prompting an unprecedented 50 million views of #StopWillow or related TikTok posts. Many were teens anxious about climate change and their future if the project goes ahead. More than 3.8 million people have signed a Change.org petition to stop Willow.
It's doubtful that 80-year-old President Joe Biden saw these videos, and now that his administration has said it will approve the fossil fuel project, he definitely wouldn't like some of the things that young Americans are saying about him on social media.
