Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

'More fracking and faster' is a dangerous approach

Margaret Wente's argument for 'more fracking and faster' represents a dangerously narrow approach to economic development and addressing Canada's energy needs. In addition to price and availability, we need to carefully assess the risks of fracking including the potential for water contamination, high lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions, links between earthquakes and injection of fracking wastewater into the ground, the lack of regulations legally requiring public disclosure of chemicals and the lack of information on the cumulative impacts of fracking on public health and our environment.

Federal, Quebec, British Columbia and Nova Scotia governments have begun reviews on fracking precisely because they don't know enough about it. Sixty-two per cent of Canadians support a moratorium on all fracking for natural gas until all federal environmental reviews are complete.

Considering risks and community opposition, we need a ban on fracking or at the very least a moratorium.

Original Article
Source: rabble.ca
Author: Emma Lui 

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