gasland

hey guys,

I thought I would share a documentary that I've just finished watching. As I type this, the credits and banjo solo music accompanying it is playing in the background. I want to write up some of the strongest impressions and memorable parts of the documentary to share.

It's called Gasland, directed and produced by Josh Fox. I first heard of it during the Oscars, as it was nominated for best documentary. In summary, it investigates the natural gas mining method called hydraulic fracturing and it's environmental impact. It is a industry that is actually growing in size today.

Hydraulic Fracturing, or fracking, is a method of freeing up natural gases trapped within a formation of rock called shale. It uses deep core drilling to pump liquid at high pressure into the ground, to fracture the surrounding shale to free up the gas. It resembles a small earthquake.

The first issue is that out of the 1 - 7 millions of gallons of liquid that is pumped into the ground, about only half is recovered. This isn't too much of an issue if it was just water. But in fact, the fracking liquid that is used contains over 596 types of chemicals; drilling additives, anti-corrosives, acids etc. All of this goes straight into the environment, and because almost all of them are non-biodegradable, it's in there for good.

This kills local wildlife, poisons all the near by streams and rivers, goes into live stock's drinking water, decimates plant life. The list goes on. There was a sad part of the doco, where a lady had frozen multiple species of animals for proof. Rabbits, frogs, birds, even a baby doe. Fish get their gills eaten by chemicals and die.

It also goes into our groundwater and thus our drinking water. The scariest part was when a farmer filled a tub of water from the tap, and applied fire to it. You can actually SEE melted plastic forming on the surface of the water. That's how much poly-whatever is actually present in the water.

Another scene was when a man let his tap run for a few seconds, and then applied a fire. There was so much gas within the liquid, it lit on fire and burnt his arm hairs off.

Some communities are on this water right now, and suffer large amount of brain damage because of the chemicals. Most suffer headaches, lack of taste, lack of smell, unable to see clearly.

The documentary goes through interviews, investigations, researchers and even congress. It's a really good perspective. I really enjoyed this documentary and encourage anyone that interested to have a look. I have a copy if anyone wants it.

teoh,