Please sign and share this petition to kick fossil fuels out of politics
This graphic is from Frack Off. In 2012, Upper Calder Valley Plain Speaker pointed out how the UK government was dancing to the tune of fracking companies – in June 2012 the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) released a report on fracking; Lord Browne, Chairman of Cuadrilla, was President of the RAE until 2011. He owns 30% of Cuadrilla and, as you can see in the graphic, is also a non-executive director of the Cabinet Office.
The new RAE President is Sir John Parker, former head of Anglo American company, which has fracking interests in South Africa.
The UK government report on fracking that recommended the process should continue was produced by a panel that included the British Geological Survey (BGS). The BGS receives funding from companies that frack – including Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon, BG Group and Schlumberger.
These conflicts of interest, which would not be legal or permitted if they occured in a local Council, are typical of the corporate capture of government. Over 200 parliamentarians – MPs and Peers – have recent past or present financial links to companies selling healthcare, but they all were allowed to vote on the Health and Social Care bill, turning it into the Act which is now busily carving up the NHS and handing it out to private healthcare companies.
Since democracy has died a death at the hands of governments that only listen when money talks, what else are we to do but take to the streets, if we disagree with what the government’s doing? We have no representation in parliament, when MPs and Peers are allowed to vote in their own business and financial interests and forget that they work for us.
I don’t read the so called Guardian or so called Independent but I suggest this is the sort of story they should be pushing. As for fracking in the UK, is it any worse than what’s happening in the Niger Delta, Afganistan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Colombia, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria etc., to get fuel for our cars and plastics for our toys and mobile phones. I suppose all those taking part in protests are cycling to the demonstrations and burning wood rather than gas at home. My point is, what are the alternatives to oil & gas and are these being employed by those in opposition to it?
Thanks for comment – alternatives to fossil fuels are increased energy conservation (using less energy, full stop) increased energy efficiency (using less energy to do the same amount of work/produce the same power) and a combination of different kinds of renewables.
IMO, the switch to using less energy (conservation/efficiency) and to renewables has to be done on a society-wide basis to be effective, individual efforts are not going to have a big enough effect.
So while I guess a lot of people opposed to fracking are reducing their energy use and trying to use renewables (eg I get my home gas and electricity from renewable energy sources through a green energy provider) in the end these individual changes are not going to be enough.
A lot of people travelling to fracking protests go there by specially chartered coaches, so their carbon emissions from travel are reduced.