Marissa Takes Action

To take action on fracking I signed a petition. It was very easy and only took a second but it made me feel good because it was something I believed in and something that I t was wrong. It also meant something to me because it let me know that my name would be on that and everyone would know that I signed it. If you would also like to sign the petition against fracking, here is the link: Petition Against Fracking. Signing this petition relates back to democratic views because it is our right to have freedom of speech and be able to believe in what we want to believe in. We have our own freedom to sign petitions or show our views however we see fit; why not utilize that freedom? I believe as a teacher it is important to inform students of their rights because who knows what they may believe in and that they can stand up for. They're allowed to have a voice and views as much as we are so it is important for us as teachers to teach them about these rights that they have. The quote also reminds me of democracy in the sense that we are free here in American so voicing our opinions are important. But as teachers it should also be our duty to inform students that voicing your opinion is something that you should do and not to be ashamed to show yours because we all are entitled to an opinion.

Joanna Takes Action

I also signed a petition against fracking, as the other two members of my group did. It felt great signing up for this petition because I feel that if the method of fracking continues, it is going to have extremely harmful affects on the world. I am not for fracking what so ever. The damage it cause to thins so essential such as water is not acceptable in my eyes. I want to do at least something about my strong feelings towards this subject, rather then sit back an complain. I feel that being able to sign up for petitions like this is great, because we get to state our opinion and have a say in what goes on in the world. It relates back to democracy because it is one of our rights as Americans to peacefully share our views on world issues. We have the option to change things if we want to. I feel that teaching social justice issues should occur to an extent. Personal opinion should not be forced on students, but all side should be given so students can make up their own opinions. I personally thing it is fine and important to talk about these issues because as long as it is taught from an objective view point. Which once again, I feel that this ties into the quote. We have to teach things like this to our students so they are conscious of all going on in the world and they can speak up and contribute. We have to teach this to our future generation so we can grow as a nation.




I highly suggest if you agree you should also sign up for the petition!
http://www.stopfrackingnow.com/

Jake takes action.

I went ahead and signed the same petition that Marissa had posted a while ago. My reasoning is a little bit different, though. Fracking is not a good thing in its current form. I don't think we should be doing any more destruction with it until we can sort out how exactly to make it work without annihilating our precious earth. My thinking is that if we can get it to stop, then maybe we'll have some time to actually think about what we're doing and how to mitigate the senseless violence.
How does this all tie into democracy? Well, I can choose to sign a petition just as I can choose to vote for the man or woman that most accurately holds my values to be the most important. I think it's important to abolish fracking in its current form, and thus, I can "vote" for just that.
I wrote about social justice issues and how I thought about it in teaching in an earlier write up of an observation I did for class. At the time, I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but I think it's pretty clear to me now that education is a good vessel for spreading messages to students regardless of age. To help them to lean in the direction of something that could improve the world isn't such a bad thing. It's just morally ambiguous. I'm all for it though.

Current News on Fracking

In the news today fracking is being brought forward and people are becoming more aware. Some places are banning it, and others are spreading the word. It is awesome that it is being made more public because light will then be shed on such a negative topic and bring it to the attention of the public. In an article about a small New York town that bans fracking, we learn about how from that ban a lawsuit is being tried in New York. Also it states that NY is now deciding whether fracking will be made illegal in the state. This is very positive. If some where like New York bans fracking, it may some day become illegal in the entire U.S. saving tons of people from chemical poisoning. 

Another new piece of information came out saying that a natural gas produced by fracking is reducing America's greenhouse gas emissions. The article "Fracking won't fix the climate" talks about how this is true, but only to a certain extent. According to the article, fracking is only reducing a small amount of the greenhouse gas emissions; and because of this, by fracking we are only delaying our country in switching to more sustainable ways to obtain energy. Fracking our way to cleaner air will only be slowing our overall process in saving our world from greenhouse gas emissions.

All states in red are ones in which drilling is occurring. Fracking is occurring in the majority of states in the U.S. 

Marissa's Interview

I chose to interview my mom because I wasn't sure if she knew anything about fracking. So I decided to find out, and fill her in on anything that she didn't know.

Me: "Mom what do you know about fracking?"
Mom (Lisa): "Not much, except isn't it how they get the oil from the ground?"
Me: "I guess, but it is more of a process that can be used to extract the natural gas found under ground. They inject pressurized fracking fluids into the shale layers of the earth in order to get this natural gas."
Lisa: "That sounds very intense!"
Me: "Do you think fracking is safe for the environment?"
Lisa: "I don't know much about it but it sounds like it wouldn't be too safe, it must be too good to be true."
Me: "You're right it isn't. When they inject these pressurized 'fracking fluids' (a mixture of water, sand, salt, citric acid, and lead) into the ground any leaks can completely soil an 
underground water supply. Does this sound sustainable to you?"
Lisa: "Not really, especially when you could be in danger of a harmful water supply."
Me: "Where did you hear about Fracking?"
Lisa: "I think I heard about it on the news last year but I haven't really thought about it since." 
Me: "Do you think that there is anything that can be done to make this process more sustainable to the environment?"
Lisa: "Well maybe they could make sure that the fracking fluids would not be able to leak down into water supply, it sounds like that would be my biggest concern."
Me: "If a big company came knocking on your door and asked you if you would sign a contract to receive a large amount of money if you were to allow them to drill and start fracking close to your home would you do it?
Lisa: "No definitely not, its not worth the risk, and I can tell they are probably not as cautious as they should be." 
Me: "Why do you think that this is still going on even with the huge risk factor?"
Lisa: "Because we Americans needs these resources and we can't afford to lose money over what the government probably views as a slight chance of failure."
Me: "Do you think there is any safer way to do it?"
Lisa: "I personally don't know but if someone does this for a living I'm sure they could figure something out."
Me: "Do you feel like you're a little more informed now?"
Lisa: "Yes! It's weird to know all of this was going on and I only had this little clue of what it really was." 

Reflection: 
I realized from this interview that some people don't really know a lot about this topic. This is very dangerous because people should know and I think that we are only hurting ourselves by not informing our other citizens of this country. I think the more people to know about this the more informed we would be, and the more people could say no when offered money, that would  ruin their drinking water and possibly put their family in danger. By keeping ourselves informed the healthier our planet would be.  

Joanna's Interview:

Joanna: Do you know what fracking is?

Mary: I know it has to do with getting oil from underground. I hear it is harmful for the environment.

Joanna: Do you know what this process involves?

Mary: I know a drill is used pushing gallons of water into the ground, along with chemicals.

Joanna: When did you first hear about fracking?

Mary: Up until recently I had no idea what it was, but lately it has been all over the news. A lot of talk is being done about the possibility of this fracking corporation opening up in New York. The only other time I have heard of fracking was a video I had to watch for a class of a person setting their faucet water on fire.

Joanna: What is your opinion on fracking?

Mary: I do not know that much about it. However, I do feel that it has more negative effects than positive. From what I hear a lot of chemicals are involved in this process that are just left behind. I also hear about explosions happening because of it.

Joanna: What affects do you think fracking has on the environment?  

Mary: I think it is leaving a lot of toxic chemicals behind, that in the long run could cause damage. These chemicals could cause explosions or worse. Especially in a highly populated area like New York this could be detrimental to their city.

Joanna: Do you feel that fracking should continue?

Mary: Honestly I would say no, but I know it would still continue.

Joanna: What changes do you feel need to be made to this process?

Mary: If they continue to use this method they should come up with an effective way to dispose and extract these harmful chemicals. The side effects of fracking are extremely harmful for the environment.

Reflection:

I did this interview with my older sister Mary. She is a 21 year old college student. She actually knew a lot more about this topic than I thought she would. She does not know about it in great detail, but she definitely has a pretty good idea what its about. I liked to see her view of fracking and see how it compared to mine. From talking with her further I found out that she only knew as much as she did because of an environmental class she was in. What does this mean for the rest of the world? I feel that a lot of people are unaware of this growing issue today as it continues to get closer and closer to where we live. It is not that they are stupid, they just have not been educated on this topic. No one cares until it is too late.

Jake's Interview:

Jake: So now that we're actually sitting down, what do you know about fracking?

Manfred: I've heard of it. I know that it's bad for the environment. Apparently it uses a lot of water messes with the land.

Jake: What exactly does it do to the land?

Manfred: I think it messes with peoples' water supply. Communities around the places where fracking happens are affected pretty badly.

Jake: Do you know why fracking is used?

Manfred: Yeah, it helps us get a lot of natural resources. There are actually a huge amount of them that we get from doing it.

Jake: Which natural resources are yielded from this process?

Manfred: I don't know for sure. I'm not going to pretend that I know.

Jake: How much water do you think is used every time one instance of fracking occurs?

Manfred: Probably hundreds of gallons.

Jake: How does that make you feel?

Manfred: I know of a whole bunch of other ways that water could be used that I'd imagine would be far more beneficial to humans and the earth in general.

Jake: Why then, do we continue to do it?

Manfred: We need natural resources. Our economy practically runs on them. We have no real basis of how to live without them, and to the people who are doing it, the resources are more important than water.

Jake: What are some ways that we can go about change?

Manfred: I wish I could give you an answer to that. You'll have to tell me when you find a way to make a living off making change.

Jake: It sounds like you aren't totally knowledgeable on this topic. Why do you think that is?

Manfred: While it's a big controversy, it hasn't affected me personally. It isn't as talked about as it should be.

Jake: Thanks for answering. You've been a big help.

Reflection:

So after all that I gained a few points of knowledge. The interviewee, a family friend, knew next to nothing about fracking. Sure, he got the general idea and seems to see that it's a bad thing, but there's so much more to it than just that. He's a pretty normal guy. He knows things. He's no dummy, and it's not like he doesn't pay attention to the world. So why doesn't he know what's going on with fracking? I'm gathering that it just isn't well known. People seem to not realize just how relevant it is.