Fracking
Max Moinian
Co-Founder at Future Earth Catalog
Hydraulic fracturing is a rather violent way of sucking fossil fuels out of the Earth.
Whereas traditional drilling involves a vertical hole that slurps up oil, fracking requires horizontally cracking through rock layers to release oil or gas. Drilling is like a jelly donut. Fracking is like a tiramisu.
Imagine having to pick out a middle layer of cocoa powder--and all the energy and resources required. When fracking boomed in the US, it ushered a new era of cheap, abundant energy, with the false promise of being a cleaner fuel.
Terraforming the American landscape for natural gas, from faraway fields to backyards, turns out to be terribly unnatural: from the chemicals pumped to break the rock, to the contamination of groundwater, and methane leaking into the air. Cheap energy has come at the cost of people's tap water so loaded with chemicals that it catches on fire.
Whereas traditional drilling involves a vertical hole that slurps up oil, fracking requires horizontally cracking through rock layers to release oil or gas. Drilling is like a jelly donut. Fracking is like a tiramisu.
Imagine having to pick out a middle layer of cocoa powder--and all the energy and resources required. When fracking boomed in the US, it ushered a new era of cheap, abundant energy, with the false promise of being a cleaner fuel.
Terraforming the American landscape for natural gas, from faraway fields to backyards, turns out to be terribly unnatural: from the chemicals pumped to break the rock, to the contamination of groundwater, and methane leaking into the air. Cheap energy has come at the cost of people's tap water so loaded with chemicals that it catches on fire.
(1) Fracking 101
(2) No Peak Oil for America or the World
(3) Gasland, 2010
(4) Fracking boom tied to methane spike in Earth’s atmosphere
(2) No Peak Oil for America or the World
(3) Gasland, 2010
(4) Fracking boom tied to methane spike in Earth’s atmosphere
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287 Park Avenue South, Suite 700
New York, NY 10010
United States
hello@climatewords.org
+1 (332) 900-7880
Climate Words is fiscally sponsored by Ecologistics, Inc. (EIN 27-2116150), a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation.
© 2023, Climate Words, Inc. All rights reserved.
