In a few short years the term
“fracking” went from obscurity, mostly mistaken for an obscenity, to a
household word, now often associated with flammable tap water. The
technology is not new, but the market conditions that make such reckless
forays deep into the earth’s crust profitable, are new. Welcome to the
post peak oil energy economy. What’s online to follow fracking is even
scarier.
The problem is we’re
addicted to oil, and like most addicts, we can’t take that first step
and admit our addiction. For over a century, we mostly glided, enjoying
the high that cheap oil gave our economy and consumptive lifestyles,
while not facing many consequences—at least none that we could yet
recognize. But, like the meth-head whose body was rotting from the
inside out, our addiction was poisoning our atmosphere, our oceans and
in places, our land and fresh water. Now we’re seeing the results of
that five generation-long binge. We’re also coming into a period that
energy economists call “peak oil.”
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