This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience while browsing it. By clicking 'Got It' you're accepting these terms.
Most recent
Trending
Top Videos
The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!
WATCH: Fracking 101 Narrated by Edward James Olmos
’’‘Chances are you're already up in arms about fracking and its impact on people's health, the environment and our climate. It's also likely you know some people who don't know a lot about it, but they may have heard a newscaster say that it's behind dropping gas prices and they think "That's great!" You may have also seen some polls that show a lot of Americans approve of fracking—but they've also shown that people don't know very much about its impacts, and once they do, they're likely to oppose it.
The Sierra Club has put together a two-and-a-half minute animated video called Fracking 101 that's simple enough for a kindergartner to understand and short enough so that even the most attention-challenged will get it. Cancer-causing poisons? Check. Polluted aquifers? Check. Climate change-causing methane-emissions? Check. It's all here in digestible and entertaining form.
The video, which features narration by actor Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica, Stand and Deliver, Blade Runner), depicts how methane gas escapes from fracking operations to drive climate change, how the toxic chemicals used in the process find their way into our water and air, and what kind of health impacts those chemicals have.
“It is an honor to team up with a powerful voice for progress like Edward James Olmos as we continue to educate Americans about the dangers fracking poses to our health, our homes and our future,” said Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune. “It’s time that we act to keep natural gas and other dirty fuels in the ground and speed the transition to clean, renewable energy like wind and solar.”
The video is also available in Spanish.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Study Finds More Costs Than Benefits From Fracking
Study Finds 8 Fracking Chemicals Toxic to Humans
EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
By Zak Smith
It is pretty amazing that in this moment when the COVID-19 outbreak has much of the country holed up in their homes binging Netflix, the most watched show in America over the last few weeks has been focused on wildlife trade — which scientists believe is the source of the COVID-19 pandemic. Make no mistake: Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness is about wildlife trade and other aspects of wildlife exploitation, just as surely as the appearance of Ebola, SARS, MERS, avian flu and probably COVID-19 in humans is a result of wildlife exploitation. As a conservationist, this is one of the things I've been thinking about while watching Tiger King. Here are five more:
By Hector Chapa
With the coronavirus pandemic quickly spreading, U.S. health officials have changed their advice on face masks and now recommend people wear cloth masks in public areas where social distancing can be difficult, such as grocery stores.
But can these masks be effective?
By Carey Gillam
Bayer AG is reneging on negotiated settlements with several U.S. law firms representing thousands of plaintiffs who claim exposure to Monsanto's Roundup herbicides caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma, sources involved in the litigation said on Friday.
With many schools now closed due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, you may be looking for activities to keep your children active, engaged, and entertained.
Although numerous activities can keep kids busy, cooking is one of the best choices, as it's both fun and educational.
Trending
Germany's target for renewable energy sources to deliver 65% of its consumed electricity by 2030 seemed on track Wednesday, with 52% of electricity coming from renewables in 2020's first quarter. Renewable energy advocates, however, warned the trend is imperiled by slowdowns in building new wind and solar plants.