The Global Frackdown is an international day of action initiated by Food & Water Watch to ban fracking —a risky technique that uses millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals to break open rock formations deep underground to release oil and gas. The oil and gas industry has spent millions of dollars on slick public relations campaigns and high-profile lobbying efforts to buy the ability to extract fossil fuels from our communities with as little government oversight as possible, all while destroying our air, water, health, communities and our climate. The best introduction to the issue is probably to sit down for 100 minutes and watch the award winning documentary ‘Gasland‘. (also available for free at films for action).
EJOLT has reported on fracking and resistance to it in blogs on Romania, Bulgaria, the UK, Canada and Spain and in this report. We’ve so far mapped 17 fracking conflicts in the atlas of environmental justice and are calling out to anyone who has the necessary details of a fracking conflict to email us. With this message we want to express our explicit support for the Global Frackdown.
The first Global Frackdown in September 2012 brought together 200 community actions in over 20 countries to challenge fracking. The second Global Frackdown in October 2013, was even bigger with over 250 actions in 30 countries spanning six continents. This year will be even bigger. Some of the 100 people working for the 23 EJOLT partners on this project have participated in a global movement that has – among other things –
- Upheld bans on fracking in Bulgaria and France, despite intensive pressure from industry.
- Pushed for moratoria in multiple regions in Europe.
- Delayed Chevron’s plans to drill for shale gas in eastern Romania and won recognition in court that local authorities have the right to ban fracking.
- Persuaded five regions in Spain to adopt regional bans on fracking (Navarra, Cantabria, La Rioja, Andalucía & Cataluña).
- Delayed fracking in South Africa.
- Won recognition in the European Parliament for the right of local communities to be consulted about fracking in their area.
The Global Frackdown will unite concerned residents everywhere for a day of action on October 11, 2014 to send a message to elected officials across the globe that we want a future powered by clean, renewable energy — not dirty, polluting fossil fuels. The journey to a renewable energy future will not be fueled by aggressively expanding the use of extreme technologies to extract oil and gas. Or as the slogan goes: “keep the oil in the soil, the coal in the hole and the gas under the grass”.
Participants in the Global Frackdown will organize events in their communities to challenge decision makers to oppose fracking, united around a common mission statement calling for a ban on fracking and investment in a clean energy future. There are 100s of events all over the world so click here to see which one is near to you.
