At the weekend I switched the TV on and saw a load of people clapping and generally behaving like they had just won the lottery, but of course it was just the politicians at the Paris Climate Talks behaving like a bunch of idiots. Possibly it was because they could at last go home after coming to some sort of climate emissions agreement.
Anyway I knew then that it was a lot of nonsense as they will all say anything and sign up to anything, knowing that none of it is legally binding. Each country will expect all the other countries to stick to the agreements, but will have no intention of doing so themselves.
But even I was somewhat taken aback when there was an announcement on the BBC news tonight saying that fracking was going to be allowed in England. Apparently they’re going to be fracking in the Peak District, despite the fact that it’s a National Park. You can read about it here if you’re interested.
So, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t fracking just going to produce more fossil fuels, which is exactly the opposite of what was agreed at the Paris Climate Talks?
Yet again, I feel like I’ve fallen down some sort of Alice in Wonderland nightmare of a hole.
If you want to see what the Peak District/Derbyshire looks like, have a keek at the images here. It happens to be one of my favourite parts of England, but I don’t suppose it’ll look like that for much longer.
That seems a very short-sighted decision. Apart from the effects to a National Park, there is the risk of fracking causing earthquakes. (Check out what’s been happening in Oklahoma in the past year or so.)
Valerie,
There have been a lot of TV programmes about the dangers of fracking, but it seems that MPs have been won over by lies and supposed business/employment opportunities. I don’t know how anyone could be so daft.
It also pollutes drinking water and causes massive environmental destruction. Humans (or is it just politicians and businessmen?) are like a cancer on the Earth. I’m glad I got to the Peaks District (and a lot of other places that are being destroyed in one way or another) before fracking did.
Joan,
It amazes me how stupid the politicians are – they’re either stupid or have been paid off to vote that way in my opinion. I can still hardly believe that they are going ahead with fracking, where is the point in having National Parks if they can do things like that in them?
Oh no! That’s terrible news! There were just reports out recently in the US about Oklahoma where they do a lot of fracking and the increase in earthquakes from basically none to happens regularly since fracking started there. And they are not little tremors either and Oklahoma does not have earthquake building codes since they never used to have earthquakes. Can you say disaster waiting to happen? Yest no one says hey, maybe we should stop fracking. Gah! I hope there is a movement afoot to stop this crazy thing. It destroys the environment and benefits no one except the fossil fuels executives and their bank accounts.
Stefanie,
I have seen photos of land where fracking is going on and it is just a scene of devastation. That might be acceptable when a country has vast tracts of land otherwise unused (but I really don’t think so). The UK is such a small country, this is going to impact on a lot of people, for the worse. And as you say, it’s only going to be the top executives who benefit from it.