An issue worth acting on

By MARYGRACE KENNEDY

Natural gas drilling. Those words are everywhere in Northeast PA. In newspapers, in community meetings, in conversations taking place in local businesses. The issue surrounds me as a citizen of this region, but I hadn’t thought about it deeply enough until I saw the movie, “Gasland.” This documentary, made by Milanville, PA native Josh Fox, brought the sheer magnitude of the “natural gas issue” into focus for me.

“Gasland” wasn’t made by some big-time director, written by a team of award-winning writers, or laced with special effects. “Gasland” was made by a guy with a movie camera. A young person who, like me, has lived here his entire life and who is passionate about conserving his home—the land he loves. He is devoted to illuminating what natural gas drilling means to the communities who are experiencing it.

Fox was one of hundreds of landowners offered a large sum of money to sign a gas lease that would enable gas exploration and drilling on his land. He was informed it was a low-risk procedure; gas drilling would not disrupt his life or his land. But before signing the lease, Fox did what many others didn’t do. He decided to investigate natural gas drilling where it had been occurring already. What he discovered was astonishing.

Fox traveled across the United States interviewing different people who have been negatively affected by natural gas drilling. He found that the process called hydraulic fracturing—“fracking”—was not clean or safe or low-risk as the gas companies claimed. Fracking does so much more than destroy the landscape. The chemicals used in this process pollute the ground water and air. These pollutants are capable of making not only animals sick, but people also.

I saw “Gasland” at my high school, Delaware Valley. A panel of experts was there to discuss the film, and Fox himself attended to take questions. The auditorium was full, but few teenagers were in attendance. Our world is technological. We have the Internet, cell phones and Facebook. We’re caught up in reality TV, but we ignore reality. More and more people—young and old—neglect their physical world. Maybe we don’t care. Maybe we are intimidated or scared of problems that seem too huge or too inconvenient to think about.

When I left the auditorium, I felt scared. Scared of what might happen to these Pennsylvania lands I love. I don’t like imagining the tremendous impact that gas drilling will have on the life of my community. But worse than imagining these effects would be ignoring them. This is not a nightmare that will disappear if I just tune it out. This is an issue that needs to be acted on now.

What does action mean? We can’t just say “not in my backyard.” We use too many fossil fuels; until that changes, they will always need to drill in someone’s backyard. So in one sense, action means what it always has: learning about an issue and getting involved with others to make your voice heard. But action has to mean something else; it has to mean self-reflection. We have to ask ourselves why does living so often go hand in hand with destroying? Why aren’t we inspired enough, even as we witness everyday the damage fossil fuels do to the earth, to do what it takes to turn to renewable energy? Conserving, simply living with less, like smaller cars, smaller houses, less stuff, less running around, doesn’t have to be synonymous with sacrificing. It could actually mean living fuller lives more connected to the rich, beautiful planet that supports us. Action means changing our thinking. When we do, we will transform the world.

[Marygrace Kennedy will be a junior at Delaware Valley High School in Milford PA.]