Water Contamination & Fracking

Water Contamination and Natural Gas Fracking

Because of a contamination near the town of Pavillion, Wyoming, federal environmental officials have linked underground water pollution to hydraulic fracturing. Environmental Protection Agency officials concluded that the spill in central Wyoming had most likely seeped up from gas wells, because it contained at least ten compounds that are known to be used in frack fluids. There has been a debate about whether or not contamination from fracking is actually occurring. Drilling industries claim that fracking is safe and does not cause water contamination. The industries state that hydrologic pressure naturally forces liquid down instead of up, and that geologic barriers prevent chemicals from moving to the surface. The Wyoming contamination goes against the industries claims completely. However, the companies argue that the science to directly link fracking with water contamination is inconclusive. The finding of these compounds in this particular case could change the way that natural gas resources are regulated by the country. The Environmental Protection Agency concluded that the contamination had to have been caused by fracking.

To keep water from being dangerously contaminated, fracking should be strictly regulated. People that live around areas where fracking frequently takes place should not have to be concerned about whether or not their water is safe to drink or bathe in. The compounds used for oil drilling are unhealthy. Many of them are carcinogens that could negatively impact human health in a huge way. Therefore, stricter regulations on fracking could keep water sources safe, which would help keep residents of the area healthy. 

Richard Kahn

"In his book, Dominion, Matthew Scully estimates that nothing less than 103 million pigs, 38 million cows and calves, 250 million turkeys, and 8 billion chickens are slaughtered annually in America alone." 

This is a quote from Richard Kahn's "Towards Ecopedagogy: Weaving a Broad-based Pedagogy of Liberation for Animals, Nature, and the Oppressed People of the Earth." Prior to reading this, I had no idea that the number of animals killed annually for our consumption was so high. I do not believe many Americans really stop and think about where their food is coming from, or how it got to their plates. If environmental education classes were put into the curriculum in all states, people would be more aware of their surroundings, which include more than just these animals whose lives are sacrificed for our benefit. Possibly, these classes could decrease these numbers. They could also educate the public about water sources, nonrenewable resources, and other parts of the ecosystem that are hurting for us to thrive. If people knew what was going on, perhaps they would be more likely to stop it from continuing.

Extra Credit: Visual Rhetoric

This picture shows a deer that is made out of trash. It shows that animals cannot be recycled, but trash can. Recycling garbage could help the environment and the animals, such as deer, that live on the planet. By refusing to recycle, we are hurting the environment. Nature is dying, and it cannot be brought back to life. This picture uses technology to provoke individuals to recycle by showing what happens when we do not. It implies that we are throwing the environment away because we are not recycling the way we should be. Visual representations of things that are already obvious sometimes help to better get the point across, because they appeal to one's senses. That is what is happening with this image.

Poem Themes

In Coyote Valley Spring, Snyder talks about how life is simple in the wilderness in this area. He talks about how people are far from where the animals are living. His theme in this poem is that without humans involved, nature is simple and happy. In Front Lines, Snyder writes about bulldozers ruining the land. This goes back to the theme that humans negatively impact nature. The theme of Manzanita seems to be that nature is beautiful, like in Coyote Valley Spring. Gary Snyder was concerned with the wilderness this long ago, and it has only gotten worse since then.

Snyder Themes Forum

As a class, we discussed themes in Gary Snyder's Turtle Island. For the most part, the poems in Turtle Island have themes related to nature and the bioregion. In many of his poems, Snyder implies that humans have a negative impact on nature. In poems such as The Dead by the Side of the Road, the theme is that humans are wasteful when it comes to the environment. As a whole, humans take the wilderness for granted. This is negatively affecting the bioregion in huge ways. Snyder implies this in many of his poems.

Gary Snyder Themes

For this assignment, I read The Dead by the Side of the Road, Control Burn, and Two Fawns that Didn't See the Light This Spring. The themes of all three poems seem to be that humans intervene with nature more than necessary. In The Dead by the Side of the Road and Two Fawns that Didn't See the Lights This Spring,  Snyder describes animals that have died from unnatural causes, such as being hit by cars and shot. He seems to have sympathy for the dead animals, which shows that their deaths are not something to be happy about. Control Burn is about how much the land has changed since the Indians had control over it. He wants to help the land blossom and live to its full potential again by burning it. These poems show that Gary Snyder has a respect for the wilderness and that other humans do not. They change things in negative ways.