“So erm, Mr. Rowan. I was wondering what the whole deal is with these oil companies? I’m really interested in being involved in conservation in the future.”
Lexi’s dad extended his hand for Finn to shake, and he took it then sat down. “First off, you can call me Chris. And that’s great that you’re interested in conservation! Any particular area?”
Finn shifted nervously in his seat and Lexi looked over at him, smiling. “Erm, I’m not sure yet. I guess I’ll figure that out.”
“Ah, you’ve got plenty of time, son. Anyway, let me tell you about all this oil company stuff. So basically, there’s a patch of desert to the west of town with a lot of oil reserves. Unsurprisingly, oil companies want to move in and extract the oil. We’re trying our best to stop them since that particular area has a lot of biodiversity and a fairly large population of some endangered animals, mostly lizards, snakes, scorpions. Not everybody’s cup of tea, but important nonetheless. So that’s the situation.”
Finn shifted in his seat. “That’s….not great. How are you trying to convince them to stop moving in?”
“Yeah, it’s definitely not good. We’ve been mostly trying to educate the town, as well as the oil companies. My assistant, Drew Edmonds, is actually a filmmaker, so we’ve been working together to make a series of short documentaries to show in schools and the town hall, as well as to the oil companies. We’ve managed to hold them off so far, but they’re not persisting any less.”
“Wait, did you say, Drew Edmonds?”
“I believe I did. Why, do you know her? Oh actually, here she is now…”
Finn turned to his best friend in disbelief. “Lexi, I think that’s my aunt…”
