Controversy Over Hydraulic Fracking in Wyoming

“EPA: Natural Gas Fracking Linked to Water Contamination” by Abrahm Lustgarten, Nicholas Kusnetz, and ProPublica debates whether hydraulic fracking caused underground water pollution in central Wyoming. Federal environment officials concluded that the gas drilling process likely caused the water pollution, but the EPA, currently investigating the situation, has yet release a finalized report. Based on the findings, many people are questioning the safety of fracking. Environmentalists are calling for strong federal regulation of fracking, but the drilling industry has continuously argued for the safety of fracking.

The article mentions many facts and statistics that lead one to believe in the dangers of hydraulic fracking. Residents began to complain of browning water soon after nearby gas wells were fracked and in 2008 and 2010 the EPA found contaminants that likely resulted from fracking and warned residents against drinking the water and recommended ventilating their homes because they were at risk for an explosion. The EPA then proceeded to drill into wells and discovered carcinogenic chemicals known to be used in fracking. After further investigation, the EPA reported that the water contamination, was in fact, caused by hydraulic fracking.

This recent revelation has sparked even more controversy over the potential harms of fracking. I believe that with evidence like this, there definitely needs to be stronger federal regulations on fracking. The health of the people in this community was put at risk for years before the cause of the contamination was finally discovered and it would be an injustice to let this happen again.

Richard Kahn's "Towards Ecopedagogy"

“Thus, our moment is new – never before have the collected mass beings of the planet Earth been so thoroughly threatened with extinction as they are now and never before have so many of us raised this problem consciously and desperately together in the hopes of transforming society towards a better, more peaceable kingdom as a result.” This quote, pulled from Richard Kahn’s “Towards Ecopedagogy” really stood out to me because Kahn summarized the primary reason for the earth’s critical condition. He brings up the fact that in an attempt to improve our lives, we have done the opposite by degrading our home and treating it so poorly we are now threatened with extinction. While our appetite for expansion and growth may temporarily enhance our standard of living, in the long run, it will be our downfall. I believe Kahn is being rather negative with this point of view, but it is a possibility nonetheless. He asserts that educating society is the only hope for a sustainable world; this may be true, however, I feel that not everyone needs to understand environmental preservation, just be active in contributing to it.

Visual Rhetoric

This photoshopped image of a polar bear in the desert is a clear implication of the damage resulting from global warming. The picture is suggesting that if we, as humans, do nothing to preserve our environment and put a stop to global warming, the consequences could be catastrophic. Such as a polar bear, that would normally live in cold conditions, being forced to survive in the heat of the desert. Technology aids in informing society of the problem of global warming through media, such as television, Internet, and newspapers. It helps to spread the word much faster and gives people an infinite amount of accessible information on the subject. Technology was also used to edit this image to create the visual rhetoric.

More Themes From "Turtle Island"

One of the bioregional themes I found in many of Snyder’s poems in “Turtle Island” was humanity's need for nature. In three poems I read, “The Uses of Light,” “O Waters,” and “Without.” Snyder discusses how we need the environment and it helps to sustain us. By destroying the bioregion we are essentially sabotaging ourselves. In “The Uses of Life” Snyder tells of all the benefits light has to offer. “It warms [his] bones” and “draws [him] out of the night” (39). “Oh Waters” is about the many uses of water and how it is everywhere. It “washes [him]” and nourishes life (73).  Snyder also communicates humanity’s need for nature in “Without.” He describes life without nature and how “the power [is] within,” the environment, not without. Snyder feels strongly that we need to live with bioregions, not destroy them.

More Themes From "Turtle Island"

            Three additional poems I read in Snyder’s Turtle Island included “Why Log Truck Drivers Rise Earlier than Students of Zen,” “Anasazi,” and “Ethnobotany.” A main theme in these poems was, once again, the destruction of nature. However, a new theme I discovered was a desire to return to our roots and make life simpler.

            In “Why Log Truck Drivers Rise Earlier than Students of Zen,” Snyder tells of day-to-day life of log truck drivers. He talks about how this is their only way of living and that “there is no other life” (63). The truck drivers are satisfied with this simplistic lifestyle and haven’t ever experienced anything different. The theme found in this poem is how humans can be content with the only the smallest of things and how society today is too complicated and need to return to its roots.

            The first time I read “Anasazi,” I didn’t quite understand what Snyder was talking about and who the Anasazi were. Only after some Internet research did I find that the Anasazi were ancient Pueblo people. The meaning behind this poem is similar to “Why Log Truck Drivers Rise Earlier than Students of Zen,” in that the Anasazi lived life constant and simple. It is easy to see that Snyder admires their rustic way of life. This poem is also implying that humanity would be better off and more connected to nature if we rediscover our roots in an uncomplicated way of living.

            “Ethnobotany” contained themes more similar to the poems I read last time, “Night Herons” and “The Great Mother.” It is about mankind’s destruction of nature and disregard of the environment. The title of the poem, “Ethnobotany” refers to the study of relationships between people and plants. Snyder is upset with the way society treats the Earth, with a “chainsaw in September” and “main split trunks” (51). He says he gets “just so slightly sick” with the way we are treating our home (51).