For starters, an ugly truth, a finger pointed at each of us collectively and individually. Our never ending need for STUFF, CONSUMER GOODS is slowly killing the only planet we have on which to reside. I read some time ago an article that claimed, "Our current rate of consumption, coupled with the rate of growth of our human population will see us needing TWO PLANET EARTH's by the year 2050 to meet the natural resource demands of our human needs. When are we going to wake up to the reality that less is more, when are we going to wake up to the fact that we need a NEW ECONOMIC MODEL based on something other than MASSIVE CONSUMPTION of material goods and services?
Which brings us to the primary focus of this article...the truth that our government, the Natural Gas industry, and perhaps the entire industrialized world does not want us to know, perhaps the single largest driving factor in the push to drill our lands here in America for Shale Gas...INDUSTRY...the production of ALL THAT STUFF we run out and HAVE TO BUY because commercials, and peer pressure tell us we need to have IT for our lives to be complete. How many of us in the battle to stop Horizontal Hydraulic Fracking are aware of the hard statistic that a full 43 percent of of the Natural Gas from ALL SOURCES is used in the industrial processes of making PRODUCT? Where is that product produced? Not here in America, our jobs have been outsourced in the name of a World Economy, and now the powers that be want to rape our lands for the necessary raw materials to feed the industrial machine that keeps the pockets of the rich and elite lined with gold...Look to India, look to China, and you will see the new Industrial Base that supplies our never ending demand for NEW STUFF.
Natural Gas is not just energy. Natural gas has a multitude of industrial uses, is absolutely crucial as a feed stock, providing the base ingredients for such varied products as plastic, fertilizer, anti-freeze, and fabrics. Look at the price of oil...the chemical industry depends upon fossil fuels as the base line from where almost all of today's products come from. As the dwindling supply of oil reserves see prices going up and up, alternatives are sought out...can we say Natural Gas? We are told we have a 100 year supply of it here in America right underneath our homes, properties and land...told that allowing (un)Natural Gas companies to drill for it will end our dependence on Foreign Oil. What is going to happen to the price of (un)Natural Gas as demand for this resource begins to rise...how long before we see the equivalent of FOUR DOLLAR A GALLON NATURAL GAS? Two questions:
1. How long is that (un)Natural Gas going to last if the world wide consumption rates continue to rise, if the Industrial Complex demands ever larger quantities to keep up with our collective demand for consumer goods?
2. We have pretty well tapped out the world's Oil Reserves, and now are turning to (un)Natural Gas to meet our ever growing demand for both energy and consumer goods. What do we turn to in say 50 years when we have played out the Natural Gas Reserves around the world?
Our Ameircan (un)Natural Gas is going to end up, when everything is said and done, in a landfill. The next time you are drooling over that new IPAD, or Kindle, the next time you cannot wait to get the newest, greatest gadget, ask yourselves, "Can Mother Earth afford the price it will cost her for me to own this new toy?" When you find yourselves plugged into your toys from the time you get up till the time you go to bed, ask yourselves, "What am I doing to TRULY CONSERVE the world's dwindling stockpile of raw resources and conserve energy. Lastly, before you allow Fracking in your neighborhoods, on your land, ask yourselves, "Where is that precious natural resource REALLY GOING?"
If the answer to that last question is, "To China and India where it will be used in a never ending mass production machine that spits out products that end up on landfills." maybe just maybe it is time to "Just Say No" when the landman comes looking for your signature on a (un)Natural Gas Lease.
