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Permanent Culture Now, Indymedia and Frack Free Somerset Presents Get ... Apr 25 13 Transport to Extreme Energy Gathering Apr 18 13 Public Meeting in Bath with Dr Mariann Lloyd Smith Apr 18 13 Community Resistance to Extreme Energy Workshop & Benefit Gig south west |
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 Saturday January 12, 2013 10:34 by Frack Free Somerset info at frackfreesomerset dot org
As part of the Frack Free February month of action, local coalition, Frack Free Somerset in collaboration with Frack Off are leading a workshop on community resistance to extreme energy. The workshop will look at what 'extreme energy' is and place these developments in context of the bigger picture before looking at models of resistance around the world, including examples from the Lock the Gate & Coal Seam Gas Free Communities in Australia. Community resistance in the UK will then be explored as well as next steps for Somerset & the South West. |
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14I can hear the chants now,
"Cheap energy, when do we want it - Never !"
"More subsidies for US wind turbine firms"
"No to energy independence"
Seriously guys holding back fracking is like blacksmith holding back cars. The argument is over, the case is proven, the entire issue is such a no brainer for any politician they are never going to listen to a tiny minority like you who want people to pay more for their energy and help make rich Americans even richer.
...tells the story of Fracking :)
" Frack Off are leading a workshop on community resistance to extreme energy."
That's going to be a tough sell,
"Join with us in protesting plans to reduce your gas bill. Write to your MP and tell him you want to pay more to help subsidise loss making wind-farm companies"
The relatively low cost of energy in the UK is part of the problem when it comes to energy consumption. People have little motivation to save energy because the cost really doesn't matter to them that much. The low cost energy that will result from Fracking will only intensify this issue.
You may think that energy is "low cost" at the moment but I can tell you that most working people do not. If 'fracking' is half of what it is cracked up to be I for one will welcome it. Only this week I invited in my elderly next door neighbour for a few hours of warmth in our house because she had turned off her heating as she was worried about the next bill.
That is real life.
The current fuels we rely on would already cost less if the bosses and shareholders didn't keep creaming off and increasing their profits.
Does anyone seriously think that megabusiness is proposing fracking because they want us poorer folk to have cheaper bills? - if so, I want some of what you're on.
And don't be fooled - the government and their corporate mates squeeze the fuck out of us, refuse to regulate the level of price increases we face whilst also cutting our wages (if we're lucky enough to still have a job) - and then appear to be our saviours with some new revolutionary cheap fuel. Bullshit... It's a good marketing/propaganda ploy - and then once we've got this new cheap fuel (and all of the environmental consequences - which cost money and health too), they'll just up the prices and screw us some more.
Let's have serious conversations about the global energy crisis. Let's have some serious conversations about fuel poverty (I think you'll find that the culprits of this aren't the environmentalists)... and let's be smart enough to see through the white noise and the corporate nonsense.
You think that fuel should be cheaper !!!!!
Have you no understanding of how a reduction in fuel costs will lead to an increase in use with a catastrophic result for the planet's future. Fuel needs to be much more expensive to force a reduction in use and save the ONE planet we have.
The above comment clearly isn't actually written by Frack Off. Don't you have anything better to do than to impersonate anti-fracking campaigners, Gerwyn?
Who is Apatosaurus and who is Gerwyn ?
I fully agree with 'Frack Off' that the only way we are going to reduce our useage of fossil fuels is by making their consumption much more expensive. Oil, Gas and Coal are all very cheap and this had led to their use without thought.
An economic study in the US showed that a 20% rise in the cost of petrol would lead to a 33% reduction is car use, a similar increase in the cost of domestic gas would encourage people to reduce their use of home heating by a substantial margin.
Let's be clear here - I am not at all arguing for "cheap fuel for all - burn away". But as someone who grew up in relative poverty (where the choice was between food and heating) AND someone who has been active in the environmental and climate justice movement for many years I'm cautioning that we avoid red herrings.
The earth is being destroyed by humans – yes. Mostly, I believe, because we humans organise our interactions with the planet and each other using this thing called capitalism. Industrialisation and a reliance on fossil fuels was pushed entirely for a profit motive – and was helped along by colonialism, imperialism and a hierarchy of wealth and ownership.
Earlier commenters are believing the lie that fracking will generate the cheaper fuel that our poorest quite rightly need in order to not die or suffer from life changing health problems. I was merely pointing out that this is a carrot being dangled in front of many peoples faces, while the stick that beats us is austerity, unemployment, shrinking wages, rising prices etc. If we just write them off as WRONG... then they'll only listen to the pro-fracking propaganda.
If we really want to stop fracking AND reduce our reliance on fossil fuels we need to be a society of people that blame the rich and keep the poor warm. There's no point everyone turning their thermostat down one degree whilst consuming more and more smartphones, ipads, big screen tv's (and on and on) whose production all relies on fossil fuels and other extracted resources. This will not solve the problem.
We need to tackle the disease of capitalism by putting the blame where it is due AND create the society and interactions which are healthy for the planet and all who live from her (humans included). To force a reduction in the use of fossil fuels means destroying the industries and infrastructure that most use it – and creating the alternative energy sources that humans need to survive – unless you're an absolute nihilist.
Building a campaign against fracking needs to do more than be a campaign against fracking. It has the ability to highlight the bullshit (ie, the rich telling the poor that will be good for us while they still force us into fuel poverty as their bonuses rise), to start conversations about all energy use (how it can be reduced, who owns it, what impacts it has from extraction to pollution), to dare to be anti-capitalist, to generate thoughts/actions for small scale alternative energy projects, to look at ownership of our alternative energy production, to educate on the threats to our earth and how we can join together to protect each other and that which we are sustained by....
So I do hope that “Frack Off” doesn't speak for the entire group – cos if it does, we environmentalists have got it wrong again and will be pissing in the wind – cos if we're not doing educational and basic hearts and minds work, then no-one will give a shit and the corporations will continue to be the more convincing party in this discussion.
Fuck fracking AND fuck fuel poverty AND fuck capitalism AND fuck rich warm environmentalists (if that's what you really are....)
All well and good but while you are overthrowing world Capitalism, righting the wrongs of Imperialism and saving the planet some of us are working on campaigns that are somewhat more 'here and now'. Yours are of course noble aims but I think a little more realism in terms of what matters and what can be achieved is the immediate work required.
Perhaps if you can spare some time from transferring the means of production from the bosses to the workers you might like to join us.
The comments on this thread aren't really from Frack Off. They're from an industry troll trying to make them look bad. What they're saying is completely different to Frack Off's usual narrative.
i know! it's just fun to make them use their brain cells a little - and in reality there is a minority of folks i've crossed paths with who do espouse some of the stuff the corporate hack's being paid to write - so sometimes it is worth engaging in the hope it creates some food for thought for others too.
it's the most articulate trolling i've seen for a while - in fact, a lot of recent stuff has been more articulate than normal. the question is, is it just one corporate/state lacky spending all day on bindymedia, or more? - and i wonder how many we've seen around in other guises....