We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Methane in well water from gas fracking

Click here to access article by Stuart Staniford from his blog, Early Warning. 



A peer-reviewed study by Duke researchers confirms what has been widely reported by residents near gas drilling sites: the drilling is causing the contamination of water supplies. The above video demonstrates this dramatically. (See also this report from ProPublica for more details.)

This source of fossil fuels has been much heralded in mainstream media as providing the new abundant energy needed to promote more industrial growth in the US in this century. I have my doubts that this study and future ones will be covered to any significant extent in mainstream media. 

Thus, the governing class will continue their drilling, and they will continue driving this engine of capitalist growth which is headed straight off a cliff of environmental degradation, resource exhaustion, and climate destabilization. It is up to us, the working people of this earth, to cease this destruction and create a social-economic system that can enable us to live in harmony with the ecosystem and each other.
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