By Nicole Cruz
The first university I went to was in a small town in Upstate NY: Delhi for anyone familiar with the area. And one weekend when my parents came to visit we passed by a sign that said “no to fracking.” The sign obviously caught my attention because I’ve never heard of fracking and it’s just a silly word to me. After driving past the sign, I asked what any other person living under rock would do, I asked my parents what fracking was. They simply told me that it was bad for the environment and that it wasn’t a good thing and I believed it, but in the back of mind I always thought, could it really be that bad? And to anyone else asking that question, yes it really is that bad.
Let’s start first with what exactly fracking is, it’s short for Hydraulic Fracturing and to quote Sandra Steingraber in her Orion article, “The Fracking of Rachel Carson,” fracking is basically when “A drill bit opens a hole a mile deep, turns sideways, and then, like a robotic mole, tunnels horizontally through the shale bedrock for another mile or more. The hole is lined with steel pipe and cement. To initiate the fracturing process, explosives are sent down it. Then, fresh water (millions of gallons per well) is injected under high pressure to further break up the shale and shoot acids, biocides, friction reducers, and sand grains deep into the cracks.” In short a bunch of chemicals are being filtered into your tap water supply and poison is emitting from it.
If you need more proof watch this video from the documentary Gasland which is streaming on Netflix. In this video you find one instance of when a man lights his tap water on fire! This pacts a serious punch because it’s a visual aid to trigger a response that, hey something is seriously wrong here. It’s common knowledge that water puts out fire, but when it comes to fracking, fire wins over water. I don’t know about you but the second I see water from my faucet being lit on fire, I assume we have a serious problem on our hands.
Sandra Steingraber who I mentioned before is quite big on the fracking movement. She is normally at the forefront, making sure fracking stays out of the state I call my home. In the “Fracking of Rachel Carson” she intricately weaves the problem with fracking with Rachel Carson’s A Silent Spring. It can be a bit confusing but when you really delve deep into it, it makes the message clear. Rachel Carson cared about her community and saw the harmful effects of DDT, and Steingraber is using Carson’s methods and words to reinforce her words and the harmful effects of fracking. For example when she quotes the Pennsylvania Constitution; “The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic values of the environment.” in points 19-21, and then reiterates Carson’s words from Silent Spring; “If the Bill of Rights contains no guarantee that a citizen shall be secure against lethal poisons distributed either by private individuals or by public officials, it is surely only because our forefathers, despite their considerable wisdom and foresight, could conceive of no such problem.” where the main argument is that people have a right to clean air and not poisonous gas, which if fracking is allowed, can happen.
Steingraber also discusses fracking in her book Raising Elijah, specifically in chapter 10. Within this chapter she talks about fracking and her children as well as the induction of sidewalks into her community. She utilizes the effects from the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania to broaden her point, that even from an economic outlook, the long term results could be devastating to a larger community and ruin whatever natural resources we have left. She brings up the question if it could affect our groundwater and any other potential risks.
While I may have grabbed some readers’ attention with what I’ve discussed I know I may not have grabbed everyone’s. It makes sense considering sometimes seeing is believing. That’s why I suggest you check out all of Gasland (the documentary I mentioned in the beginning). I told you my story about how I came across fracking and after I saw the tap water lit into flames, I was completely sold. I didn’t even need to watch the rest to know that fracking needs to be stopped, but it served me well to watch the rest and see the effects fracking has done not only to the people in the community but to the animals as well, which can be backed up by “The Fracking of Rachel Carson.”
Another film to watch is the musical protest documentary Dear Governor Cuomo, where Jon Bowermaster gathered a handful of activists to bring awareness about fracking and if you’re a New Yorker, I highly recommend renting it on Amazon and giving it a view. The musical composition and the heartfelt stories really drive home the information being presented to you. This gives you the emotional impact of fracking by sending a message to the governor about how NY is against it. If you care to learn more I suggest going to the website featured in the film, NewYorkersAgainstFracking. This is a very powerful film and it happens to include some very famous faces, such as The Hulk himself Mark Ruffalo.
In the New York Times article, “Gov. Cuomo Makes Sense on Fracking,” the journalist delves into the fervent rally New Yorker’s had on possible fracking coming into NY territory, the pressure the decision had on the governor and the impact that would ultimately reflect upon New Yorker’s as a whole. The journalist advocates that Cuomo’s decision should provoke other government officials to really research the effects of fracking and deliberately weigh its pros and cons.
To start off, I really liked how you put in a personal story at the beginning. I think this is a really good way to both capture the reader and give them a sense of who you are and what this subject means to you. I also think that the definition of fracking is something that I should have included in my own piece, as I didn’t know what fracking really was until I actually read all the articles, and there’s no guarantee that a reader of this blog will read all the articles in depth- it’s a great inclusion. Tying it into one of the sources was also really awesome as it makes the entire blog post a bit more dense and concise, so the reader isn’t bombarded with text. I also really like that you’ve dedicated a bit of text to urge the reader to actually check out the articles! A lot of time I feel it’s important to let go of formality a bit and actually show the reader the passion and action you’ve taken, great job!
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