We, Protectors in the UK, are defending against Hydraulic fracturing with all our might, because we will be living right on top of the wells!
They will be going under our houses and streets and some of the most precious beauty spots we have in our tiny country. Our density of population should not be undermined nor dominated by intense, toxic industry.
We have successful solar farms and wind farms plus a very convoluted coastline with regular tidal patterns, the power of which, we have yet to exploit. We would like our Government to focus on renewable energy sources as a matter of great urgency for reductions of CO2, methane and other undisclosed toxins which may enter our fragile, multiple fault lines and thereby our water aquifers.
Our Government has been infiltrated by ex oil executives as advisors. The lies and spin they are filling the public with are shocking. Our Australian, American and Canadian friends speak of terrible damages to their health, their environment, wildlife and local farms. The financial rewards are negligible. Our Crown owns most of the mineral rights in this country, somewhat different to the USA where compensation is considerable, we are told. We are also very concerned about the payoffs made by oil companies and the gagging orders that accompany them, even restricting the revelations of GPs.
We do not accept that continuing to extract hydro-carbons from the earth would be beneficial to our unemployment or our soaring energy costs. We are so overcharged for energy as it is – we are all living with inventiveness and frugality which makes going without highly familiar to us!
Furthermore, we dare not risk our limited water sources in this dash for gas/oil/coal. Hydraulic fracturing uses millions of gallons of water which is toxified and would remain so for ever. A large proportion would disappear into the wells without trace, highly irradiated, risking slow migration and pollution for generations to come. All wells fail and deteriorate over time.
Our Government promised to be “the greenest government ever” they lied.
Our Protection Camps at the Fylde in Lancashire, Balcombe in Sussex and now at Barton Moss near Salford have become our only centres of influence. We consider our Camps to be our only visible act of resistance and we cherish them, support them and value them above any other locations on the surface of this planet. They speak in passive and peaceful protest for this huge community that has sprung up from every class and type of human being that this country embraces. They speak for millions of creatures that cannot be heard, they speak for you, me and all our future generations.
We, the Protectors, are claiming self defence because our precious and brave are under attack from the police force, controlled by our Political leaders who do not work for us anymore. They work to increase the profits of Energy Corporations and Bankers.
Above all, we consider every investment in fossil fuels to be an investment in death and destruction and we will oppose this industry, worldwide until all life on this planet is free from the threat of ecocide. Ecocide, to us, is the greatest weapon of mass destruction ever invented.
I have been an activist since I was 16 years old and first attended a rally in Hyde Park with CND. I am now 62.
The actions I have been involved with are various but themed around protecting life on this planet.
I have never, in all these years, been paid a penny for my efforts and I certainly don’t think that anyone would seriously imagine that I have!
I do it because it matters. I do it because I care about my species, all animals, plants and living things that share this planet with me.
If I am “a professional protester” then I would love to know who is going to pay up for the 46 years of hard work, danger, letter writing and demonstrating that I have been involved with all over this world? That’s a lot of wonga I am owed!
Frances Leader
