Fracking Away Our Future
By Arun Gandhi
Earlier this month (January 2013), I spent a day with Yoko Ono, her son Sean Lennon and Susan Sarandon inspecting the effects of hydro-fracking on environment, ecology and the natural resources of Pennsylvania. I did not need to be a rocket scientist to see the devastation caused to the environment – swaths of forest lands cleared up to erect rigs, sheds and space for monstrous machinery and vehicles, not to speak of the pollution and poisoning of the aqua fir. There were as many as 650 well sites in Susquehanna County and hundreds more to come. To me this was shameless rape of Mother Earth.
It is our voracious appetite for oil and natural gas at a cheaper price that spurs the industry to exploit the earth’s natural resources, so, not surprisingly, the consumer is a guilty as the producer. None of us raised a voice when the same industry was exploiting and devastating the environment and resources of other countries to feed the monster in our backyard. Now that the world has become wise and curtailed the power of the Oil Industry to plunder the resources in their countries we do not want them to do the same in our backyard with natural gas. Clearly, the choice before us is: Do we stop the monster that is set on ruining the earth for future generations or do we mindlessly sacrifice the future generations.
We have been plundering the resources of the world as if they are limitless. Politicians have been screaming to high heaven about the debt we are leaving behind for our grandchildren to pay back but no mention is ever made that there won’t be an earth left for future generations to live on.