A Climate Ride to Remember

Oklahoma has seen a dramatic increase over the past decade in oil and gas production by fracking (injecting fluids and chemicals into the earth’s crust under pressure). It has also seen an extraordinary increase in earthquakes, to a level far exceeding California’s. It disrupts people’s lives.

There has been much debate about whether the fracking causes the earthquakes, and many disingenuous responses. The US Geological Survey says fracking causes only a small fraction of earthquakes in OK, AR and TX.  They go on to say that most of them are caused by wastewater disposal. What creates the wastewater? Fracking—after the oil and gas are extracted the fluids and chemicals are re-injected back into the ground in much bigger amounts, including some pretty toxic stuff.

As a first generation American, I confess that I had been in the US for decades, before I began to reflect on the enormous injustices done to the original occupants of this continent. Now we are riding through areas, nations, in Oklahoma, that bear the names of indigenous peoples—Chocktaw, Seminole, Chickasaw—I still know little of their detailed history. But I do know that they had a profound respect for their surroundings—the environment, the climate, and respect for elders (think Alzheimer’s, dementia). We could learn a great deal from them.

#ccan #rockspringucc #climateride #solarvillageproject