The debate brewing across the nation over hydraulic fracturing has much of its roots and future in theory. There is no undoubtedly reliable proof that hydro-fracking is specifically harmful to the environment; no one can tell where the toxic water used in the process ends up. The environmentalists suggest that fracking is the only way people’s drinking water is getting contaminated; they find it unlikely that the simultaneous occurrence of gas drilling and water pollution is coincidence. The gas industry relies on the environmentalists’ inability to prove this incidence.
While the past is partly based on theory; the future is purely speculation. How will this debate come to an end? Will the end of the debate come with the end of fracking? Maybe a new renewable source of energy will be created? Personally, I believe the future of the argument will be shorter than many think; the world of renewable energy and biofuel is closer than imagined. I think as long as fracking and natural gas drilling is going on, there will be people who despise it. Moreover, both sides of the argument understand that the world will run out of oil and natural gas very soon. The only viable way to draw a conclusion to this debate is the invention of a new source of energy. One possibility I have been contemplating recently is Algae. It seems that the future without reliance on oil and gas is closer than we have imagined and algae are a very real possibility for change. The use of algae as fuel has no negative environmental impacts as far as I can tell; it is renewable and can be grown in massive numbers in small areas. While all of this is theory I believe some sort of renewable energy is the only way to draw an end to this debate.
I agree that the only way to end the debate on fracking and other drilling techniques is to come up with a new source of fuel that is both environmentally friendly and economically reasonable. While algae are not completely perfect, they do offer a real chance to lessen our dependence on oil and its harmful environmental effect. Furthermore, I think that the reverse of your suggestion is true. It is only when we come up with a consensus about drilling that we can form a better opinion on alternatives like algae. We will not know how effective they are and we will not see all of the side-effects until we actually try them on a large scale. But, I think that nonetheless, we will eventually stray from drilling and fracking and depend more and more on alternatives for fuel.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement, “It is only when we come up with a consensus about drilling that we can form a better opinion on alternatives like algae,” however, I think by the time the public and politicians come a consensus about drilling it will be too late for the environment, or at least parts of our environment. The time it has taken our government to do the most simple things, such as, simply creating any laws that protect the environment took too long. Maybe if we elected a president with the environment high on his or her priority list this could happen. It was only when Teddy Roosevelt became President that we began to form National Parks and wildlife reserves and took steps to protect the environment. There is hope but I just don’t think we will be able to come to a conclusion before we absolutely have to; we are all procrastinators in heart.
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