Gmail – [NYGCG] As Oil, Gas Fracking Gains Popularity in Kansas, So Does Safety Debate – mary.beilby@gmail.com

Gmail – [NYGCG] As Oil, Gas Fracking Gains Popularity in Kansas, So Does Safety Debate – mary.beilby@gmail.com.

Singing Clear

GDACC/ Shaleshock CNY Sponsor Release of Anti-Fracking CD

Central New York—Shaleshock CNY, Gas Drilling Awareness for Cortland County (GDACC) and Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation (NOON) announce the release of “Singing Clear: Clean earth, air, water ‘round here”, the first CD that features songs about hydrofracking as well as other topics about energy and the environment.  The songs are written and performed by numerous local musicians and groups including Driftwood, The Horseflies, Thousands of One, national touring artist Marie Burns of the Burns Sisters, Bev Grant, and Colleen Kattau.

Music has been one of the most powerful forces in social justice movements throughout American history. This CD continues that inspiring tradition,” said GDACC member Jim Weiss.”

The CD is professionally produced and was mastered in kind by Jocko Randall at More Sound Studio, Syracuse. The 14 cuts on the CD are of diverse musical and performance styles with moods ranging from reflection to outrage to humor.  Approximately half of the songs deal directly with hydrofracking while the remaining ones speak to fossil fuels, clean energy, and social justice, underscoring the connections between environmental issues throughout the Americas.

“We are thankful for all of the artists who have contributed to this project,” stated Lindsay Speer, a community organizer with Shaleshock CNY and Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation. “Now we can dance as we work to protect NY from hydrofracking and shale gas drilling!”

Proceeds from the sale of the CD will go to support these three groups, working together to protect NY from hydrofracking.

In Syracuse the CD is available for sale at the Syracuse Cultural Workers at 400 Lodi St. in Syracuse and the Syracuse Peace Council.

Singing Clear may be purchased at Sheridans’ Jewelry, Pure and Simple Yoga, The Blue Frog (Cortland), Oh My Goodness Health Food Store (Homer), and other locations

Up-to-date information about purchasing a copy of the CD can be also found on the Shaleshock CNY website at shaleshockcny.org or GDACC at   gdacc.wordpress.com.  Songs can also be downloaded online at  http://bit.ly/SingingClear.

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Shaleshock CNY aims to bring together the variety of people and groups working on the issue of hydrofracking so that we can share information and work to protect our communities.

Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation is a grassroots organization of Central New Yorkers which recognizes and supports the sovereignty of the traditional government of the Onondaga Nation. It is a program of the Syracuse Peace Council.  NOON collaborates with the Onondaga Nation in their initiatives to promote environmental healing and restore respectful relationships between the governments of our Nations.

GDACC is a group of residents who are concerned about gas drilling and its potential impacts on our community, health and environment.  Our goal is to educate ourselves and the community about gas drilling, and to promote a safe and clean environment.

Singing Clear is now available on-line through CDbaby either as an album or individual song or album download. Here’s the link:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/singingclearcleanearthai

A benefit CD about hydrofracking, coal, and oil or sun, water and wind, with superbly rendered songs for a clean planet.

Genre: Folk: Free-folk

Release Date: 2012

Album Notes

The Benefit enviro CD “Singing Clear: Clean earth, air, water ‘round here” is here! It is a compilation CD addressing issues of hydrofracking, mountaintop removal, the oil and gas industry with songs for a clean planet and sustainable energy. The compilation features excellent songs donated by artists including The Horse Flies, Driftwood, Marie Burns (of the Burns Sisters), emma’s revolution, Colleen Kattau and Some Guys, Aro Veno, Bev Grant, and Thousands of One, and includes a moving statement by acclaimed environmental activist and author, Sandra Steingraber excerpted from her Heinz award acceptance speech.

The CD benefits the work of GDACC, Shaleshock, NOON (Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation), Friends of Blair Mountain, and other groups working for a clean planet. Mastered beautifully by Jocko Randall of More Sound Studio and with the fresh and clear art work of Felicity Frisbie, the songs, mastering and artwork flow effortlessly to create an album of unity in diversity – as if the arts could shift the course of energy policy.

Authors of Wall Street Journal climate piece downplay industry ties — The Daily Climate

Authors of Wall Street Journal climate piece downplay industry ties — The Daily Climate.

2012 Natural Gas Price Forecast: Why to Avoid the “Widow Maker” – Money Morning

2012 Natural Gas Price Forecast: Why to Avoid the “Widow Maker” – Money Morning.

Sandra Steingraber – national conference on the public health effects of fracking that was convened by a new group of doctors and scientists called Physicians Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy (PSE).

Friends,

Here attached is a new report from me on the public health threats posed by fracking–and the human rights dilemma posed by researching them.  It represents the expanded and footnoted version of the talk I gave last week at a national conference on the public health effects of fracking that was convened by a new group of doctors and scientists called Physicians Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy (PSE).

There was lots of press coverage, with the signature message: “We need to hit the pause button on fracking and maybe also the stop button.”

The keynotes addresses were provided by senior officials within the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (a federal agency) and the Children’s National Medical Center.

You can find video documentation of the various presentations, along with powerpoint slides at the PSE website:

http://www.psehealthyenergy.org/site/view/971

You can also access my talk through the url link above.

The written transcript is longer than the remarks I actually delivered because I wrote a much longer speech than could fit within my 20 minute time limit and so delivered only about 2/3 of what I had written.  Also because I speak from handwritten phrases (rather than a typed-up script), this is not a verbatim transcript.  But it’s better.  And also fully referenced.

Feel free to post and distribute if you find useful.

The title of my talk “Taking the Handle Off the Fracking Pump” is intended to reference the British physician John Snow who, in 1854, on the basis of partial evidence and in the absence of absolute proof, took the handle off a public water pump that he believed was the source of a cholera outbreak in London.  Later, it was revealed that the drinking water well was located only a few feet from a leaking cesspit whose well casing had crumbled.  Dr. Snow intervened to save lives first and then documented the mechanism for harm and route of exposure after the fact.  At the time, very few public health officials accepted the germ theory of cholera causation.

I believe this story, which is legendary within the field of public health and epidemiology, has resonance for the anti-fracking movement.

In the attached remarks, I also come down hard on the idea that the risks to health and environment from fracking can be successfully “mitigated.”  I argue that mitigation is a myth.  At best, it simply delays human exposure rather than prevents it.  Mitigation cannot decrease the amount of toxic material created or liberated by fracking.

“Mitigation builds time bombs with longer fuses.”

I also try to connect the global climate change concerns regarding methane with the toxic exposure concerns regarding  its extraction.  Within the United States, climate change and toxic trespass are addressed by two very different groups of activists with their own history and culture, and there has been very little communication or cooperation between the two groups. Happily, that segregation does seem to be dissolving a bit over the last year.