George, Your arguments are compelling but not persuasive to me. As modern industrial civilization comes down (if it really does come down voluntarily) from its fossil fuel addictions, how much of the water & land is to be plundered? Should we all be suffering the same catastrophic fate as those who had no choice or were ignorant of the hazards, or those who saw only the dollar signs in their mining & drilling? The cliches from Copenhagen, Leave the Oil in the Soil and the Coal in the Hole, I would add, let's pass on the gas. Moral righteouness is not enough to convince me that it's okay to drill and threaten what we have. We only compound the problem locally and then some when we transport the radioactive water to "where?" Let's hold our ground with whatever "relatively" clean water & land we have, anywhere in the world. Tony Del Plato
On Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 12:57 PM, George Frantz <[email protected]> wrote: > > --- On Wed, 12/9/09, Jan Quarles <[email protected]> wrote: > > "I hope you're not asking that question as a way, yet again, to say that > protesting fracking is morally wrong as long as the protestors are heating > with gas. That's a trap that could have a chilling effect on the learning > curve." > > > +++++++ > Sorry, Jan, but that is exactly the point of my question regarding how IC > heats its buildings. > > Who are we as a region to say NO!" to natural gas drilling,and its > associated risks, when our robust economy and associated affluence are so > dependent on burning natural gas? > > What give us the right, as a region, to continue to foist off the > environmental externalities of our affluance on the poorer regions of the > United States and the world? > > My questioning of the morality of blind opposition to drilling in our > region, and my "lazy, crazy, deserves to die" leisure class environmentalism > position with regard to opposition to drilling remain on the table. > > So the new "green" building at IC is heated and cooled using geothermal > technology. (If it is.) So is my home. But what about the other 75 > buildings on the I.C. campus, or the other 10,999 homes in the city and town > of Ithaca? What about the Cornell campus, where they are now > converting from a coal fired central heating plant to one burning natural > gas? > > Why in the Ithaca Times (12/2/09) is the mayor of Ithaca using as a > rationale for demolishing the Ithaca Commons the need to install larger > natural gas service lines to enable more restaurants to open there? > > As far as my position having any chilling effect on any learning curves, > we've been "learning" now for forty years. Where are we today as a result? > > As a nation we now burn up land for development at 8 times the rate of our > underlying population growth. There is no evidence to indicate the Ithaca > and Tompkins County areany different in this regard. On the contrary in > Ithaca and Tompkins County it's not merely environmentally acceptable, but > even environmentally chic to live 5, 10, 15 miles or more beyond the urban > fringe and alternatives to the single-occupancy vehicle, and commute into > Ithaca on a daily basis. (burning gallons of gasoline imported from > elsewhere and generating in the process a pound of greenhouse gases per mile > in the process) > > In 2007 Americans generated 26.5 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per > person, versus 11 ton per person in Europe and 6 tons per person in China. > > Just how much more is there to learn, and when are we actually move beyond > pious pronouncements like "Not in Anybody's Back Yard" and "Light in My Back > Yard" > and make the necessary changes? > > > George Frantz > > > > > > > ____________ > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, > please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > Questions about the list? ask > [email protected] > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, > please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > Questions about the list? ask > [email protected] > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > -- The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage they did not know they had. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
