Green MP Caroline Lucas has been arrested whilst protesting against fracking. More here – http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/green-mp-caroline-lucas-arrested-as-antifracking-protests-reach-fever-pitch-8774189.html
It seems, reading the article, that a ‘legal protest’ can now be defined as one that happens somewhere out of the way where no one is in any way inconvenienced by it. Which rather negates the value of protesting. If to be inconveniently in the way is to be illegal, gods help this country because we are in a lot of trouble just now.
There is a video in the newspaper link. You can watch for yourself and judge how dangerous, antisocial and in need of arresting for public order and safety these people are. This is a peaceful protest. It should, therefore be considered a legitimate protest, as I see it, and to send in the police is a travesty.
Of course no one in power wants the general public thinking about fracking. They don’t want us talking about the very real dangers to land and water supply. Or the way in which they’re having to pour money into fracking to make it financially viable. There’s a working definition of ‘not financially viable’ if ever I saw one. Even if money is your god and you care nothing for the state of the planet, it’s hard to see how you’d look at this and think it’s clever.
We only have this one planet. We all need clean water, breathable air, and most of us have no desire to have our lives shattered by earthquakes, which apparently are a possible side-effect of fracking. And for what? To line someone’s pocket, to squeeze out a few last gasps of what we know to be a finite resource.
The smart money, and industry, is in green technology. It is a no brainer. Finite resources are not going to deliver long term results. Harnessing renewable sources of energy should keep us going for as long as we are here, if we get it right. Let’s not poison our children. Let’s not make our land uninhabitable.
In other scenarios, poisoning people is a criminal offence, and yet apparently the politicians are putting their weight behind the poisoners and locking up the protestors. This is not the reality I want to live in. I’d go so far as to suggest anyone who cares about living at all, about their quality of life, personal safety and long term prospects, really should be worried about this.
I salute those people with the courage and determination to put their bodies in the way and inconvenience the frackers. I hope there is justice, and that we as a country condemn poisoning the water, and uphold the rights of our own people to protest against total suicidal lunacy when the idiots in charge lose the plot, as they have so evidently done on this issue.
Druid Life 
August 20th, 2013 at 1:26 pm
We suffer from the same nonsense across the pond.
August 20th, 2013 at 2:07 pm
I couldn’t agree with you more. These are scary times and I think our government is acting like a cat caught in the headlights, these are the policies of desperation and greed, yet there is another way. As you suggest, surely putting money into renewables is the ONLY answer. Those in power have children too, it’s a shame their worship of money seems to blind them to the consequences for future generations.
August 20th, 2013 at 3:22 pm
Well said! It’s also worth reminding everybody that it’s not just about water pollution or earthquakes, these are just possible issues in the short term. Unfortunately earthquakes and water pollution from fracking aren’t proven and the media, fracking companies and government are keen to focus attention here because they can deny it or provide reassurances. The real elephant in the room, and what we’re being steered around, is climate change. Science has confirmed it as a threat and a carbon-laced energy future will indisputably tip us over the edge.
August 20th, 2013 at 3:43 pm
I gather the money doesn’t even make sense – there’s a really interesting peice from George Mombiot in the Guardian…. as for the other stuff, it just doesn’t seem worth the risk to me, if it goes wrong, there’s no way back.
August 20th, 2013 at 4:02 pm
Reblogged this on findingtheowl.
August 20th, 2013 at 6:52 pm
To arrest someone for a peaceful protest completely goes against what this country was founded on. And, goes against the very thing I fought for while in the Army.
You are right when you say that renewable resources would be a better choice, if not for the environment, for business. Why the big wigs can’t figure this out, is beyond me!
Sometimes I wish we all could live like cave men for a week, maybe that will hurt their bottom line enough to invest properly.
MorrighansTrove.WordPress.com
August 20th, 2013 at 6:58 pm
Reblogged this on Morrighan's Trove and commented:
This is a sad moment… And, not what I fought for in the Army.
August 21st, 2013 at 1:15 am
It’s not entirely about the money; it’s about addiction to cheap, abundant energy when those two descriptors no longer apply. From typing a comment here via computer, flipping on the lights, getting water from the tap, having groceries available for purchase down the street in suburbia, etc. It’s not the 99% nor the 1%; it’s all of us, and our desperation to maintain a lifestyle and (at least perceived) quality of life no matter the cost.
But it’s ending, anyway. Solar, wind, etc., will never scale to the levels provided by fossil fuels (and they certainly can’t provide plastic gewgaws for our entertainment). The long descent is underway, and we’re despoiling the only home we’ll ever have in a fit of childish rage for something we can’t keep (and arguably isn’t worth keeping in many respects). The best we could do is not make things worse as this latest iteration of civilisation is being boxed up and put away (as always happens), but it seems we won’t even do that.
August 21st, 2013 at 12:03 pm
I very much agree with that assement. There is so uch pressure to own and cosume, stepping away from it is hard, and vital. I do have a computer, but there’s a lot of things I don’t have, doing my best to keep my impact down. But, we need a culture shift, urgently.
August 21st, 2013 at 3:49 am
Watch “Gasland”….brought tears to my eyes and made me rather upset to put it mildly.