Realities of Fracking
Local environmental campaigner Jojo Mehta has raised £3K in a fortnight via crowdfunding, to print 80,000 copies of a 4-page leaflet she has produced entitled “What does FRACKING mean?”
Green Parliamentary Candidate for Stroud Sarah Lunnon said “Fracking to provide energy security is shortsighted and wrong, it’s like discovering your home is on fire and deciding to make toast on the flames. What is need is a Marshall Plan for Energy based on renewable technology and energy efficiency”.
The leaflets will be distributed by volunteers and campaign groups in various locations around the UK, including her home constituency of Stroud. The leaflet is designed for door-to-door and public distribution. It’s particularly aimed at those who wouldn’t or can’t research the subject online.
“The mainstream media have avoided showing the realities of fracking in production,” says Ms Mehta. “If people realised what it would actually do to our countryside there is no-one I believe would consent to it.”
The leaflet does not endorse any political party but lists the stances of all the major political parties on fracking (Conservative, Green, Labour, Lib Dem, Plaid Cymru, SNP, UKIP). However, as this clearly shows, only the Green party has pledged to ban fracking completely.
“This information is highly relevant now” she says, “but it will remain so after the election as well. Anyone wanting copies to distribute in their area should get in touch. We’re giving them out free of charge while stocks last.”
The Power to Transform The South West
Meanwhile, in Bristol yesterday Green MEP Molly Scott Cato launched a report demonstrating that the south-west could provide its own Energy Security without the need for Nuclear or Fracking industries.
Cllr Lunnon said “this report demonstrates that it can be done, and that such a scheme would bring high quality well paid employment”.
Commissioned by Molly Scott Cato and written by Gloucestershire based Resilience Centre, the report finds that the region has the renewable energy resources to meet more than 100% of its total energy needs. The report demonstrates how renewable energy could see the creation of 122,000 jobs and generate £11 billion a year for the South West Economy.
As a region, South West England can be totally self-sufficient in energy. We have the capacity to generate this energy in clean, green ways with minimal environmental impact. Fossil fuels and nuclear are a distraction from this clear path.