What the frack?

I've  been hearing a lot about fracking, but I wasn't sure exactly what it was or how it could impact the environment and the natural places I like to explore.

I found some great information about what it is and the potential impacts are on the Ohio Environmental Council's website:
http://www.theoec.org/fracking.htm

A human interest article about fracking on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/16/us/montana-tribe-divided-on-tapping-oil-rich-land.html?pagewanted=all&_moc.semityn.www

And just to for giggles, I looked at "the other sides" argument:
http://www.energyfromshale.org/what-is-fracking?gclid=COKOxb3J1LICFcZlOgodznAA8A

And no, it's not good for the environment - but since when is sinking a well in to the earth to drain what's under the surface ever actually good for the environment? There is the high probability for all aspects of pollution: air, water (especially at the water table level), and land.

I think what disturbs me the most are the chemicals mixed with the water & sand that gets blasted in to the earth to shake loose the oil or gas. It's not being required for the companies who do the fracking to disclose what chemicals or how much were used until after the fact.

Seriously? We've been here before folks. Kept in the dark about harmful substances introduced into our lives/homes/environments and not notified until after the fact.

The pro-fracking website doesn't state what the chemicals are, just that the amounts vary from well to well and the 99.5% of the fluids used are water & sand.

Uh huh. If you won't disclose what or how much of the chemicals you are shoving like a full-throttle high clonic into the Earth, then the only ones who are going to feel the impact are the people and environment around the wells well after the fracking job is complete and the workers are gone.

WTF indeed. Not good. Definitely not good.

Some things are still black & white

As I have gotten older, I have heard many, many, many people say: "there is no black and white anymore, everything is just shades of grey" and no, I don't mean the poorly written main stream vanilla erotica book. Is that the way of it...have we gotten to the point where we have become so accustomed to compromising that everything is a negotiation, even the way we feel? Is nothing truly right and wrong anymore?

I've questioned that a lot lately — the way I feel now about subjects that I felt so passionate about as a child, teenager, and young adult. Before the "art of compromise" insinuated itself so artfully in to my lexicon and thought processes that I scarcely remember a time when it wasn't there. But now I am trying to remember what that passion felt like. What it felt like to feel something so deeply and whole heartedly that I knew I could change the world all by myself. 

Now I can hear some people saying, "Well, yes. Black and white is easy..and that was the ignorance and cockiness of youth, now you have grown up and learned how the real world operates." Yep, I have. And it sucks. It sucks because as we grow and learn how the real world works, the passion is replaced by compromise so we all get along homogeneously; and the earnest drive is replaced by responsibilities of family & home and of compromise again so we can keep the materials things necessary for comfort in this current world, and the, and the, ad infinitum...we forget. We forget the passion, hope, and knowledge that we had...at least I did. 

While I think some compromise is necessary, I think I've let it consume my life. I let the pendulum swing too far in one direction, and that's not right. What has this got to do with visiting the natural places in the world you may ask if you gotten this far in to the entry? Quite a lot for this author. 

It has made me question about why I haven't spoken up on certain issues in certain forums, mostly environmental, but personal too. I had become so accustomed to listening to all of the BS from every side that I neglected to hold on to my point of view and instead, tiredly with a desire for everyone to get along, compromised.

Compromise has its place at the table when wars or strikes are the issue - you get what I mean. It's not an evil word or idea. But should it have a place when we speak of protecting the environment...which has an intrinsic value all its own? Do we use comprise as an acceptable course of action when our national parks, where nothing is supposed to be removed, become the latest fount of oil for our ever dependent society? Are we ok with logging the last vestiges of the old growth forests because it is cheaper to do so than recycling paper - the compromise here being cheaper paper due to the lower cost?

I don't think so. I think I'm going to let the pendulum go and find its balance... because I do believe some things are still black and white and shouldn't be compromised.

Highland Cemetery - Ypsilanti MI

 The Highland Cemetery is a wonderful place to wander; that is if you're not freaked out by grave yards.  It is a quiet, peaceful place but not silent. Many squirrels were running around finding nuts and the birds were all chirping. And there is a heaviness of history in the air. This place was established in 1863, and many who are buried here are from that era.

The trees are old, very old. As they tower over their charges, makes me wonder if they could talk what lessons could they teach us? If they could explain what they have bared witness to, what could we learn  about how to live our very short lives?

As I wandered about, I thought of the trees, and the past, and the countless people who are here. What were the stories of their lives? How is the memory being kept alive? Or is it?

The saddest graves are those of the children, and there are so many, gone before they ever really lived. Makes me wonder if there is any rhyme or reason to who gets to live to be a ripe old age, and those who do not. And what happens after we shuffle off this mortal coil? Is this it? Or is there another plain of existence beyond this world?

It is a contemplative place, one that stays with me long after I leave.

The Cedar Waxwing Incident

So I was strolling along the stone pathway across the koi pond at Dawes Arboretum recently, and a Cedar Waxwing decided to buzz my tower! Walking along and it comes right for my head, and then diverts at the last second! I stayed dry, and we got a photo of the species if not the individual.

Nature - it's not for the faint of heart.

Corporations Greening it Up

There was a great article in the September issue of Whole Living Magazine that describes some major corporations and how they have gone green. It's a great article and was the driving force behind me buying the issue. http://www.wholeliving.com/

A couple of the corporation giants and their green ways that are detailed I was already familiar with - SC Johnson and Proctor & Gamble.  But the others: General Electric, Estee Lauder, The Home Depot, FedEx, Maersk Line, Ford Motor Company, Tiffany & Co., Hasbro Inc., Chiquita, Unilever, Pepsico & Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Starbucks, Nike, Puma, and Levi's were all pleasant surprises. 

Learning that these major money-makers were all taking strides to minimize their environmental footprint was encouraging. I know that under it all is the driving force of making money; but it is good to know that decisions being made in those corporate meeting rooms have some kind of green influence.