Our ignorance and shortsightedness as a species are incomprehensible.
By Robert A. Vella
Last night, Viceland aired the anti-fracking documentary Dear President Obama – written and directed by Jon Bowermaster and narrated by Mark Ruffalo. Although I’ve been closely following the use of hydraulic fracturing technology to produce oil and natural gas domestically in the U.S., the revelations presented in this extraordinary film were nevertheless quite shocking. I was most disturbed by the complicity of the American political, bureaucratic, and judicial establishment which enabled powerful energy corporations to callously destroy the lives of millions of citizens with little-to-no recourse. Their lands were seized or devalued, their vital water resources ruined, and the health and safety of their families were sacrificed all in the pursuit of short-term profit. In addition to the well-known association between Big Oil and Republican politicians, it was surprising to learn how involved and hypocritical the Democratic Party has been in this corporatist energy scheme –…
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Three Worlds One Vision 
I read the article. It’s sad news indeed. There goes the idea that methane could indeed provide a cleaner energy bridge for heating and transportation. No wonder so many people are anticipating Game of Thrones… escapism is all that’s left, it seems.
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Sha’Tara, it turns out that methane is worse than carbon.
Those with the means will be escaping to our proposed colony on Mars.
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Oh sure, get out while you can, you entitled people! 🙂 Well, fine. I’m relocating to Altaria. It’s outside this universe, and as far as I know, they don’t have man-made environmental problems. In fact, they so hated the whole time-locked universal concept that they moved out, planet and all. But before you actually relocate to Mars, you should read Greg Bear’s book: “Moving Mars” Fascinating, and in the sci-fi story, they actually did move Mars out of this solar system. Why? Because Martian society had succeeded beyond anyone’s dreams and the Earthian war lords were going to invade to overthrow Martian democracy, establishing a totalitarian regime and essentially turning over Martian production to Earth-based consortiums. Kind of like current Brazil situation… on a slightly larger scale.
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I love sci-fi, but haven’t read Bear’s book.
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Pingback: Film Review: ‘Dear President Obama’ slaps America’s Establishment on Fracking | Guyanese Online
Thanks for spreading the word, Cyril. Have a great week 🙂
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I wouldn’t dismiss the evils of various of the carbon-based fuels. However, should we wish to rid ourselves of them, we are then left with the question, how do we keep ourselves warm, keep industry going, etc? Nuclear alternatives exist, but are feared for an overlapping, but not identical set of reasons. Still, some believe they might be better than carbon.
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Dr. Stein, nuclear energy comes with its own risks. Our problem is that we’ve been dragging our feet on transitioning to clean energy solutions already in the works.
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