I went to a local showing of Gasland 2, a movie set to appear on HBO in July. It’s all about fracking (hydraulic fracturing), the new technology for extracting oil and gas from shale. I encourage everyone to see this film. Go to the Gasland website. You can watch the trailer there for the July 8 HBO showing, or learn of a public showing in your area.
The movie is informative and frightening. Now that they’ve discovered a “cheap” way to get lots more oil and gas out of vast deposits in the U.S. and elsewhere, it looks like industry and government may want to forget about developing clean energy sources.
Gasland 2 interviews people in communities where fracking has poisoned air and groundwater, forcing them to abandon their homes. It has even caused earthquakes (and now they’re beginning fracking over the San Andreas Fault in California). In addition to these “local” effects, methane gas released into the atmosphere by the drilling is the most potent of greenhouse gases, making this technology one of the worst for gobal warming.
Will we ever learn?
Sylvia Patience, Author 