VICE | Meet the Bros of Fracking

[Passage]

http://www.vice.com/vice-profiles/bros-of-fracking-815 (10:12)

On one hand, I'm happy for his success ($250k+/yr). On the other, I wonder if the side effects of fracking outweigh its value.

BBC News - What is fracking and why is it controversial?

 

[TIG]

Fracking is incredibly harmful to the land and by extension the people around it. I would never do any job involving fracking for any amount of money.

 

[zorph]

Fracking makes me sad, I'm with ThatOneGuy, personally.

 

[Passage]

How about the other methods currently in practice?

Offshore drilling can release mercury, lead, arsenic, & black carbon into the ocean. Onshore drilling can create sinkholes, cause existing landmasses to sink and fill the vacancies caused by absent oil, and also potentially poison the proverbial waterhole.

But if we stop procuring oil, price gouging will likely begin. Imaginations can run wild there. Companies accruing crazy additional cost. Jobs lost. Consumers unable to afford the overhead of having a vehicle and cannot commute to work. More jobs lost. Taxes raised to stipend public transit. Etc. Given all the drama in the news over gas prices (a question that even tends to make appearances during presidential debates), the nation would shit bricks over the extra oil costs.

 

[TIG]

Oil is the "devil we know" right now. It is actually less invasive than fracking. But that is like saying a shit sandwich is preferable to a diarrhea sandwich cause at least it doesn't spill all over your clothes.

Solar and wind are the cleanest options, but big business can't make as much as a profit off them and they don't have the lobbying power in the governments. As soon as I own my own house I will def install solar and a self generating generator. Those will meet the majority of my electric needs so as to use less oil and coal power.

 

[Subtle]

i have done a lot or research into this area and i have looked at the viability of things like wind solar, and fracking is the wrong answer. while coal and offshore oil drilling are not clean by any means they are much more safe and less likely to cause environmental damage. with only the small amount of fracking that has been done the real dangers of fracking has have already become clear. the problem with fracking is it essentially pumps toxic chemicals into the ground near shale and uses high pressure to break up the shale and get the oil and natural gas trapped there. this when not done perfectly poisons the water table for miles around making farming impossible and destroying ecosystems. on the other hand technologies like wind and solar are becoming more and more viable and are paying for themselves faster and faster. we have the technology to stabilize our energy future we just need to do it.

 

[Passage]

Even solar cars need oil, as do electric vehicles/trains. Is there a foreseeable oil-free future?

 

[zorph]

We can create oils for plastics and such from hemp, for instance. I believe an oil free future is not likely, but a future with renewable oils may be.